Person Of Interest: Adopted Siblings
by ilikebananabread
Summary: John Reese is a troubled kid who just lost his mother and forced into Foster Care. The different personalities in the home are well...interesting... (PS I do not own POI, just a fan, and sorry I suck at summaries) A/N - Chapter 2 (Adjusting) is repeated twice...
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning

John Reese had his head laid against the window of the moving vehicle. He watched the sky with little clouds keep moving. His eyelids were getting heavier. He felt like sleeping but yet he didn't want to. He kept seeing the horrible accident that was stuck in a very deep part of his brain. A month ago, John and his mother were in the car. John had just been sent home from school because he fought with a classmate.

This kid was much like John, skill wise. This kid was Mark Snow. They used to be friends in elementary school, along with Kara Stanton. After John had seen how they treated others, and how they expected him to act. He no longer wanted to associate with them. They didn't want to be friends with a boy scout so they didn't care. John and Mark fought over another student. Mark was harassing a kid saying stuff like, "I know what you did" "Why makes you do that" "I should kill you now". That angered John. He ran up and tackled Mark. Mark struggling to get 220 pounds of 15 year old muscle off of him, Kara decides to step in and help Mark. No one noticing the knife Kara had, she went to try to get John in his leg. John noticed and disarmed with little to no trouble. Everyone screaming when they finally noticed and ran inside, leaving John and Mark and Kara alone outside. Due to his time occupying Kara, Mark had time to get to his feet. All of them eyeing each other, Mark signals Kara to back off because he knows John has strong feelings about hitting women and won't dare hit her. Mark wanted John all to himself. Mark finally runs up to John hoping to strike him. John grabs his fist turns his arm, hears a snap, and flips Mark over him and strikes him in the stomach and some to his face. Many times. Punch after Punch, Mark looks like a bloody Mary, while john has a bruised cheek and split lip. The principle finally comes with many teachers and drags John off of Mark. As Mark sits up, coughing blood, he turns to John who has steam coming out of his ears. "That's the killer I know" he says. John lunges but some of the stronger teachers hold him back. "Don't John!" "Come on John! Stop!" they yell. Eventually someone turns him around and lead him to the office, earning sympathetic looks from his classmates. Including the one who he had helped. He had his head hung low and left. "You're Welcome." he muttered to himself. "They never say thank you…"

John's mother could not have been more disappointed in him. Sure she can understand why he did what he did, but that doesn't mean she approves. 'He gets this from his father' she thought as they drove home. John's father died when John was young. Her husband always HAD to help someone, any way she can. He inspired John. She couldn't have been proud. But she was worried about what John was doing to himself. She turned to her son. John was refusing to look her in the eye.

"John, we need to talk about this." she said calmly

"I don't have anything to say" He said bluntly

"Look, I know this is hard. But John...you can't continue to go around hitting people-"

"I never start it. I never instigate it Mom." he looks away "I just finish what they start"

She laughs "Spoken like your father."

He turns back….and smiles

She looks back at him, "He'd be very proud of you John"

He smiles again, then he looks toward the road. His eyes go wide

"MOM!"

She quickly turns her head, but too late...

John wakes up with a gasp, he's back in the car with Iris. She pulls over and looks at him in concern.

"Are you okay, John?" she looks at him

"Honestly, no… I'm not" He retaliates. He starts wiping sweat from his forehead. "Just..please…...keep driving" He relaxes a bit more

Iris does just that. He puts his hand over his eyes and silently sobes.

After 10 more minutes Iris decides it's time to alert John of what's going on.

"Okay John, we need to discuss about where you will be put." He sighs. Since his family and everyone he cares about is...dead and has no contact with other family, he's forced into foster care. Iris continues to talk to him about his new home

"The parents are John Greer and Alicia Corwin. They are very kind people. I think if you give them a chance, you might be surprised." He scoffs to himself

"They have 5 other kids there, so I better not hear of any fights. Got it?" She eyes John.

"If they don't start up anything, then sure I won't punch any of em'..yet"

"John…" She warns. He grins

They finally arrive at the house. It is quite nice. It's a tad fancier above average. He gets out and closes the car door. He looks at the yard and sees two kids, one boy and one girl. The boy looks like he weighs a bit more than average while the girl could use a piece of bread, or 50. They are playing basketball. The girl fakes a shot and goes around the boy and makes a layup. She cheers and gloats while he stands there and pouts. He turns his head and see's two adults coming out with two more girls.

"Hello, you must be John." She greets John. He didn't say anything, just gave a brief nod back

"John." Iris nudges him

John coughs, "Hello." He looks at Iris who gives him another warning stare. "Nice to meet you." He reluctantly finishes

The older man comes out with his hand out, "Hi John."

John took his hand, and shook it "Hi."

Alicia turned to the 4 kids behind her. 'I thought Iris said they had 5 kids' John thought to himself

Alicia turned to one of the tallest of the group. She had brown hair and eyes and a evilly smile which unsettled it but he returned the looks with a cold stare.

"John, this is Samantha Groves." Alicia introduced the girl

"You can call me Root." She says with a smile

John just gave a slight nod back

John Greer turn to Alicia real quick, "Wait, where's Harold?" He says

Alicia looks around and notices the missing body missing. She sighs, "I told him to come down." She looks to John, "I swear all of you kids will be the end of me." John didn't say anything

She turns around and goes into the house.

John Greer continues to introduce him to the rest of the children

"Um John, this is Joss Carter." He said continuing the introductions and gesturing him to the black girl beside him. Joss was there smiling to John, she was about average height, dark hair and brown eyes. 'She's got a nice smile' John thought to himself.

"This is Sameen Shaw" John Greer said gesturing to the short, thin girl he saw earlier playing basketball

"Just call me Shaw." She said fiercely. John just nodded back. 'She's a ray of sunshine.' John thought

"And this is Lionel." John Greer finishes the introductions

"How's it going?" He greets politely. John rolls his eyes. 'I have a bad feeling about this one'

After they were done, Alicia comes back out of the house but behind her was a short kid with mousy hair and thick glasses. He had a limp.

"Sorry he's a bit late. He was focused on school work" Alicia says

"Hello Mr. Reese. It's nice to meet you. You can call me Mr. Finch, if you please." Finch inquired

John just stared at him, 'Mr. Reese? Mr. Finch. So formal' He thought.

"I guess it's nice to meet you too." John said...hesitated

Alicia clapped her hands together, "Well now that that's over, why don't you guys help John with his bags, and Lionel and Harold will show you to your room and then we will discuss house rules and everything you need to know. Okay?"

"Ok. And thank you." John says

"No problem." Alicia said cheerly

John turns to Iris and quickly hugs her goodbye for now

"No fighting!" she reminds him. He shrugs back and starts carrying his bags into the home

John walks in and looks around. It was a nice home. The living room was actually quite big. The kitchen was too. He hears footsteps coming down the stairs and he turns around

"Hey Wonder Boy, your room is up here." Lionel says in a very sarcastic tone

John rolls his eyes the second time at him in one day and reluctantly follows him upstairs

Lionel leads John into the room, which have 3 beds. One for him, one for Lionel, and one for Finch.

"Glasses!" Fusco yells down the stairs "You were supposed to make the bed for our new friend!"

"My apologies Mr. Fusco, I had to type that essay and do something for my midterm." Finch said up the stairs

"I don't care if you were standing here with your troll hair lit on fire! We have responsibilities! Get your limping butt up here before I come and kick you up here myself!" He bellows. he turns from the staircase and comes back into the room. "Brothers.." He mutters under his breath. He turns and begins to make John's bed.

"Sorry this wasn't done before. But is it ok if you have the top bunk? I think I'd break it and Finch needs a single for his back." Fusco asked

"Yeah whatever. What happened to Finch?" John asks

"Don't know. He never said. The only people who know is him, mom, dad, and his social worker thats it." Fusco said

"Why does he call you Mr. Fusco?" John asks, he wants to know about this guy

"Look man, I don't really know. He is a private person." Lionel said irritated

"He's odd.." John inquires

"Yeah he his. But I do love him. Like a real brother. In case you haven't noticed we argue like them but then again, we aren't the ideal family."

John looks up, "Yeah."

Some time after they called a meeting introducing John to some of their rules and expectations. All the other kids were there.

"Okay, first it's 9:00 lights out. No later unless you've discussed it with John or me." Alicia says

John nods his head

"On school days we wake up at 6 am, the girls shower in the morning when you, me and Harold shower at night. Our order for the shower does rotate. In the mornings, we wake up, eat, take care of oral hygiene, get dressed and go" Lionel says

"And don't be late getting in the car." Shaw eyes Fusco

"Oh and do your chores, there will be lists. Yours will be the one with your name on it." Fusco says eyeing Finch with a death glare after the bed incident earlier that day

John smiles, "Ok." he said.

Later that Day

John was sitting on a chair in the backyard once he got his chores done, it was only 2 but he was exhausted. He had to help Lionel chop a bush down for some odd reason. He heard the back door open and he turned to see Finch walk onto the porch. He has noticed Finch has been eyeing him all day.

"I recognize, Mr. Reese, that there's a disparity between how much I know about you and how much you know about me. I know you'll be trying to close that gap as quickly as possible. But I should tell you… I'm a very private person." Finch says calmly

"What do you know about me Finch?" John asks innocently

"I know about the fighter you are and how your old neighborhood never helped with that. and a bit about your previous crowd, and the doubts you began to have about that crowd. I know about your former friend Jessica." Finch stops. Suddenly John looks up in shock. 'How in the world-?' Finch continues.

"I know why you chose a troublesome and unsettling life. And personality. You couldn't be there to help your friend, you had to carry a knife with you to protect yourself. To and from school. Who can blame you honestly for being such a fighter. You were on the other side of the school when she was killed." That's it.

John had enough he suddenly turned to Finch and charged at him. He put one hand right on the front of his neck and one in the back of his neck. He pushed Finch back right into the wall.

"What do YOU know about it?!" John said bitterly

"It's the truth! Your old friends lied to you, I NEVER WILL. I think all you ever wanted to do was protect people." Finch tried to get out

John let go and retaliated. Suddenly a wave of guilt washed over him. Finch put his hand to the front of his neck and rubbed it.

"Hit a nerve have I?" Finch questioned

"How-how in the world do you know so much." John looks at him like a lost puppy

"I have my sources.." Finch said slowly

John turned and shook his head at Finch

"And I overheard our parents talking with your social worker. They should be more careful about what they say when they have 5 kids in the home"

John looked back up as Finch took a seat away from him.

"We will never lie to you. You may ask, but there might not be an answer. If we do say anything, it'll be the truth. And for your own good." Finch said as he got up

"I am very happy about you living here Mr. Reese.." Finch said as he went back into the house

John just sat there and looked ahead into the woods behind the house.

TBC

My first fanfiction…. Proud writer moment! There will be more, that I promise. I know there may be grammar and spelling errors. I will try to get better as I go but this is not bad so far. Let me know what you think!!


	2. Chapter 2: Adjusting

Summary: John adjusts to his new life and starts school. John tries to learn more about Finch; we learn just what kind of crowd Fusco is involved in

A/N : There is mentions of drugs and certain "activity" so I change the rating to more of a T. Just so you know

A week has gone by since John Reese has joined his new foster family. He started to learn more about his foster siblings. Well...except for Finch. Finch is often quite. He would normally come home, from somewhere, and work on school work or doodle in a notebook. Which John himself has never seen, or what's on the inside. Speaking of school, John starts this Monday. Since it is still early in the year, he doesn't have to make up anything major. John has come a long way since he first arrived. At first, he was withdrawn and he didn't show any kindness to his siblings. This was brought to the attention of John Greer and Alicia Corwin after John and Lionel played basketball, at Lionel's request, and John chucked the ball at Lionel when he wasn't looking. Greer and Corwin never threatened to send him back or call Iris. They simply just said, "That's not how we deal with things here." Nonetheless, John grew onto them each day. He really started to grow bonds with his new siblings. Now John still has a lot of work to do, people wise. John's old neighborhood wasn't exactly kid friendly. John carried some sort of knife with him on-hand to and from school in case any trouble arised. John was later assured by Iris and his new "parents" that bringing that knife wouldn't be necessary. In fact that he would get in trouble if anyone sees it. Much like Finch, John didn't trust strangers. He always felt like he couldn't trust anybody. It's been that way for his whole life.

Monday Morning

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

Johns eyes snapped open at the sound of the alarm. And groaned when he noticed the alarm wasn't being silenced.

"Hey Lionel! Shut that thing up!" John yells as he bangs the bottom his bunk

"Whaa-? Oh yeah sorry.." Lionel apologized as he was starting to wake up himself

"Sorry won't make me go back to sleep" John said irritably as he hopped down from his bed

"Well we gotta get up anyway."

John's about to leave the room when he turns around and sees Finch still fast asleep in his bed and hearing his light snores

"Hey Fusco, Finch is still sleeping."

"I know, he sleeps like the dead. I have to wake him up myself everyday, but now since your here, you can help me."

"How do you usually wake him up?"

"On a good day, nagging. On a bad, day you might have to drag him."

"Drag him?"

"Yeah, just push him out of his bed if he won't cooperate. Then bombard him with pillows." Lionel said laughing

"Doesn't he have a bad back as it is? Wouldn't pushing him hurt him even more?" John was actually concerned

"Sometimes, but it rarely happens."

"Hm." John just left his room and headed in the bathroom, only to find it was locked

He banged the door. "What!" Shaw yelled from the inside

"Can you hurry and get out? I need to get in" John tries to be polite

Shaw cracks the door open and eyes John, who just stares back politely and gives a fake smile. Shaw grins and shuts the door in his face.

John groans and hits the wall.

"Come on Glasses! Up and at em!"

John looks back in his room and see's Fusco shaking Harold's bed with much force and sees Finch there startled and just looks at him with the most confused/Tired/annoyed look on his face

"Mr. Fusco!" Finch says as he gets up and grabs his glasses and slides them onto his face

Lionel then stops shaking the bed and smiles at John on his way out of the room, leaving just Harold and John alone. It seems Harold didn't notice John in the room because he sees Harold pull out a binder labeled 'Property Of Harold Finch" and stuffs it into his backpack. John has never seen that binder before. Harold turns to leave the room and sees John standing there

"Good Morning Mr. Reese." Finch says with a half smile on his face

"Morning Finch." John returns the kind greeting

No other words were exchanged between the two as Harold left the room and went into the restroom. Some time later he came out changed into school clothes, even though he looks more formal than school attire normally was. The whole family met downstairs for breakfast before they headed to school. Harold being the last one to join.

"John? John? JOHN!" John was dozing off, He hears someone yell, he turns to see Joss there yelling at him

"Sorry Joss, yeah?" He says tiredly

"We just wanted to know what classes you have now?"

"Oh." He says as he pulls out his schedule. It turns out he has Root in Spanish Class with him, Finch, Shaw, and Carter in Geometry, and he has Finch, Lionel, and Carter in gym/health class with him. Every other class he has alone.

"I can't believe the four of us got Physical education together." Fusco said excitedly

"Watching Fusco TRY to run the mile is really funny." Shaw snickered

"Hey short stack! Don't forget who benched more than you!" Fusco fired back

"No I benched more remember? You tried to get more but you actually dropped 150 lbs of metal on your chest."

Fusco puts his pointer finger down ashamed and continued to eat his breakfast, including the fruit he left untouched before

"Did your previous school have bullies?" Root asked John

"We did, but I kept them in line." John said calmly. "I never understood of picking on others. Where is the benefit?"

"That's why they call them bullies Johnny Boy." Root said. John looked up in supr

Root smiles and finishes eating, as well of the rest of the kids because they had to leave for school.

At School

John looked around the school as he first stepped in it. 'Typical Suburban school' he thought. Not as dirty or rugged as his other one.

"Shouldn't we give him a tour?" Fusco asks referring to John

"Well we don't have time to show him the whole school, but let's show him the main stair cases." Carter said

The 6 of them led John the main staircase

"Right now we are on the 3rd floor, going down will lead you to the 1st and 2nd floor and up will take you to the 4th." Fusco says as he points up and down with his finger

"Really? I thought it took me to candyland" John said with annoyance

"You know what wise guy?! Go get lost! See if I care! I don't need to take this, I'm OUT!" Fusco yelled as he leaves down the hall toward his first class

*RING*

"Yup, that's the 1st bell." Carter says as she starts to leave. "That bell rings a 2nd time, you'll be late. You got 5 minutes" Joss says as she leaves. Shaw starts to leave down the stairs with Carter.

"Good luck on your first day Mr. Reese." Finch says to him as he goes the opposite way from the rest of them

"Come John, our class is this way." Root nudges him

John follows Root down the hall. He stands there observing his classmates. 'They look normal enough' John thought. Suddenly he stops, the fears and anxieties were coming back. He was starting to become paranoid. He reached for his knife. He brought it against his parents wishes, all with good reason. As his hand hovers over his pocket, he breathes in and realizes he can't be seen with it or they'll take it and that will render him defenseless, or they'll call his parents. Both of those didn't settle with him. As he started to calm down he realized Root went into their class. He hurried past others in order to get to the class. He saw Root sitting at a desk with an unoccupied one next to her. He points to the other side of the room saying, "I'll just go over there." Root didn't seem offended. She just went on to work on a worksheet. The teacher then walks in.

"Looks like we have a new student." The teacher states

Meanwhile with Lionel

Lionel was in his class when his phone suddenly beeped. He took a quick look at it

'From Stills" the screen read, he sighed. He clicked on the message

'Bathroom. Now. 4th floor.'

Fusco sighed again and his hand went up

"So as you see, these numbers vary- oh yes Lionel?" His teacher said

"Can I be excused to the restroom please?" Lionel asked

"Well I'd rather you not miss this, it is very important."

"I'll be fast." Lionel pleaded

"Ok then, go ahead Fusco." His teacher said

"Thanks."

Lionel went up the 4th floor. He walked in and saw some of his 'friends', James Stills and Louis Azarello

At the beginning, all 3 of them were very good friends. Always there for one another, but Stills and Azarello went down the wrong path lately. Started doing drugs and got involved with the wrong people. They even killed when the other side didn't hold up their side of the deal. Fusco didn't want to be involved, but they guilted him by saying how they were there for him when his mom abused him, way before he went into the system. They were saying, "We were there for you, be there for us." Fusco couldn't argue with that. Plus it has been a year since their latest….accident. So what can go wrong?

"Can we make this quick? My teacher has been breathing down my neck lately and will go nuts if I'm not back soon-" Fusco began as Stills cut him off

"Fusco, we got someone bringing the stuff. We gotta pick it up at 8. And your coming!" Stills said in a calm but fierce voice

"Gee guys I don't know..I am finally happy and I got a family who cares about me. I don't wanna throw that away." Fusco sighs "And you know how much trouble I'll be in if they find out?"

"God Fusco! You are SUCH a boy scout! Plus were not asking you to take it with us. We just want you there in case something goes wrong." Azarello cuts in

"Oh I see! You want me to do the killing for you! Don't you!?" Fusco yells. They stay silent as they looked at eachother. "That's what I thought. I'm out!" Fusco said as he tried to walk out

Stills grabs ahold of Lionel's shirt collar and throws him back against the wall of the bathroom with his hands around his throat and Fusco struggling to get free and fight back

"Listen you corrupt piece of nothing! The night you came to my doorstep at midnight need I remind you! You were balling your eyes out and whining like a 5 year old but who took you in and helped you!? HUH?! WHO? Your old family? Nah, not even close!" Stills sneered "I did. And Azarello as well! We were there for you, be there for us!" Stills sneered

Fusco finally found his strength and ripped his hands from his throat and shoved him back and bellowed, "Friends wouldn't make other friends do their killing for them! You've used that saying one too many times my 'friend' as if I dare call you that anymore!"

Stills looked down for a split second and back up. "I never thought I'd have to do this, but you leave me no choice Fusco." He said as he pulled out a knife from his pocket and walked towards Lionel. Lionel's eyes went wide as he came towards him. He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe... Stills pulled out the knife and held it against Lionel's throat.

"Wanna reconsider? If not, I'm gonna have to break it to your family that Lionel commited suicide." Stills said with a mischievous grin on his face

Lionel grunted..loudly, "Fine! I won't kill anyone or do anything illegal! Are we clear?"

Stills looked at him, "You'll do what I tell you…Are WE clear?" With that Stills and Azarello left

Fusco sighed…. He banged his head against the wall. He was now lost..What happened to his once stable friends?

Lunch

John looked around the corner of a pillar in the lunchroom. He had eyes on Harold. Harold was sitting at one part of the table with two other guys. Scribbling in his notebook, the one he saw earlier. He turned his head as Fusco walked into the lunch room looking at a small note and shaking his head. Blinking a few times, John went over to Lionel

"Hello Lionel." John said in a calm voice

"Oh geez-must you sneak up on me like that?" Fusco has his eyes wide which put a smile on John's face

"Anything wrong Lionel?" John asked concerned

"If you must know, teacher issues." Lionel said as he rubbed his face in exhaustion

"What'd you do to deserve a detention?" John says as he tried to look at the note

"It's a warning. His policy is a warning which is a first offense. That means I must stay after school and clean his room. Then there's detention which is on weekends." Lionel explained "But I took too long in the bathroom."

"Really? So he times you guys?"

"Well yes and no. Not exact time, he just guesses based on how long he interprets how long we've been gone."

"Lionel, have you been researching more about our little side project?" John says changing the subject

"Yes and I must admit, I find it kind of sneaky of you to have to use the internet and background searches to learn about your own brother." Lionel said as he pulled out his little file. "Look, Harold has trust issues. And honestly, it's nothing much. I kinda peeked myself. I feel like I betrayed him by looking but then again, I wanted to know more about him. And look at me." John looked Lionel in the eye "If he ever finds out how we know about him...just be ready. " John nodded. "Who knows if he'll trust anyone if he finds out."

"How did you obtain that file Lionel?" John asked

"Mom and Dad got files on all of us. I narrowed it down to a few places in the home." Lionel leaned in toward John "One of the file cabinets in Dad's office." He whispered. John nodded. Than Lionel and John opened the file. Lionel was right, there is nothing much in here. Just his name, birth parents, birth origin, how his parents died, day of moving in with Mr. Greer and Ms. Corwin.

"Disappointed Wonder Boy?" Lionel asked

"Confused, more like it."

"You and me both friend." John looked up toward Harold and the two guys he was with

"Do you who Harold is with, Lionel?" John asked

Lionel looks over toward Finch, "Oh. That's Nathan and Arthur. Nerd friends of Glasses." Lionel told him

John continues look at Harold as he talks with his friends and doodles in his notebook, occasionally looking back behind him. John follows his eyes and the bring them to a redhead sitting with her back turned to Harold, also doodling in a notebook. 'Harold has a crush?' John thinks to himself

"Hey Lionel, see that redhead over there?" John asks as he uses his finger to guide Lionel

"Yeah, what about her?" Lionel asks

"Finch is eyeing her."

"What?" Lionel say in shock, He eventually sees Harold occasionally looking at her. "Holy cow…"

"I'll be back Lionel, stay out of trouble." John says as he goes over to Harold, ignoring the eye roll from Fusco

"Hello Finch." John greets

Harold snaps his head and torso around to face John, "Good afternoon John. How is your first day treating you?" Finch asks as he took a bite out his sandwich

"Uh yeah, pretty good. Harold, who are your friends?" John asks as he plops himself between Harold and Nathan

"Uh John, the man who you just pushed was Nathan Ingram." Harold introduced

"Hi John." Nathan greets

"Hi." John introduces himself back

"And this is Arthur Claypool." Harold pointed to the guys across the table from him

"Hi Arthur." John introduced himself . Arthur didn't seem to hear him because he was writing in a notebook, Harold's notebook

"Arthur?" Harold nudges him

"Huh? Oh hello." He said quickly as he continued writing

"Arthur has a habit of focusing too much on his work." Nathan said smiling

"Yeah I noticed." John said as he tried to see what he was writing, but Arthur had his hand covering the paper

"Well it's about 12:30, It is time to go." Harold said as he caught John's wandering eyes

"Okay, see you Harold." Nathan said as he and Arthur departed ways, leaving Harold and John alone

"John, I'd like to talk to you." Harold said

"Sure, what is going on Harold?" John asked

Harold looked around, "Not here, meet me at the bridge at the park. The underpass. After school."

"See you then." John said as he got up to leave

"Well I'm not entirely leaving you John." John looked confused by that

"We have gym." Finch clarified. John nodded

After School

John and Harold walked to the park and went under the bridge and walked through it

"You think I didn't see you behind that pillar John, or trying to look and see what's in my binder." Finch asked "I know you want to know more about me, I know you saw my file." John looked up in shocked, 'Is he mad?' John thought. "I'm not mad, but I assume if were going to be living together, you'd want to know more about me. And that's what I intend to do."

"You see Mr. Reese, the 3 of us have an idea. Never said it was..legal. You see, My father had dementia. I wanted to create him a memory machine, to help do the most basic things. Like turn of the stove, take his medications so on and so forth. My mom, died from murder. Wrong place wrong time the police said. Never believed it." John looked and saw that Finch started to have tears in his eyes, "I always believed, that something can be stopped before it happened.. That's where Nathan and Arthur came in. You see we wanted to build a machine..to let us know of a planned crime, so we can act before they can."

"You mean to tell me you try to stop murders and or crimes from happening?" John said in disbelief

"Heavens no John, not yet at least. I need to teach it proper code, maybe even morals, and not to play poker with lives, how to properly make decisions and all that. And I need to build it."

"Does Greer and Corwin know." John asks. Finch shakes his head

"Like I said Mr. Reese, only the 3..4 of us know." Finch suddenly got a serious look in his eyes

"John, you can't tell anyone about this."

"Ok Finch, I doubt they'll believe me anyway." John said

"Well you did. Anyone could.". 'Okay this is getting annoying' John thought

"Your paranoid Finch." John said

"The paranoid often survived Mr. Reese." Finch finished

Lionel

Lionel walked down the road of the shady part of the neighborhood. He was meeting with Stills and Azarello, he was walking when he heard yelling

"We had a deal man! A DEAL! You know what happens when you break a deal with us?!" It was Stills yelling

"Aye Fusco! Welcome to the party mannn!" That was Azarello..and he was high

Fusco swore internally as he was spotted

"Lionel, nice of you to join us. Guess what? It is your lucky day." Stills said as he put a gun in Lionel's hand. "Shoot him." He whispered.Fusco looked at the guy, he looked like he was going to piss himself, he looked scared, Lionel couldn't do it

Lionel looked at the gun in his hand and shook his head, "No, I will not be manipulated into helping you kill another human being." Lionel said he took the gun and drew it to Stills, "Get on the ground Stills, it's over."

Stills put his hands in the air, "Woah Fusco, now thats not a toy. You can kill someone with that." "And by the way, make sure the gun is loaded before you put it towards someone's head." Wait…

Stills got up and tackled Fusco, Lionel went to pull the trigger, but nothing came out. 'Oh no'

Stills punched Fusco and he went to the ground. He held his face in agony as he saw Stills come over him, with a loaded gun this time.

"I knew your moral compass would get in the way. So much for loyalty." He cocks the gun

"Goodbye, Lionel."

"No one will remember you…"

Lionel closes his eyes… he heard a gunshot, but didn't feel anything. He heard two grunts...and he opened his eyes to see Stills to the ground and some guy in a hood fighting and restraining him on the ground. The dealer is long gone by now and Azarello is as well. It's just the 3 of them. Stills is grunting as the the guy in the hood has his hands to Still's neck trying to choke him. Stills takes his foot and tries to kick the other guy off of him, the first couple times he has failed but once the other guy had tried to get him to stop kicking, he released Still's hand which gave him the opportunity to punch the other guys face, now stills is on top and the other guy is on the bottom. Fusco had to help. He looked around for some kind of weapon, he found a metal pole lying near a dumpster, 'jackpot'. Stills was still beating the crap outta this guy. At this point, the mysterious guy was all about protecting his face. Fusco walks toward Stills and swings the pole over his head...3 times. Once unconscious, he sees the mysterious guy stand up and brush the dirt of him/her/it. Fusco throws the pole down and grabs the back of his hoodie and shoves the guy into a dark corner where he couldn't get a look at his face.

"Who are you? why are you here?" Fusco barks getting spit all over the other human being

"Good to see you too Lionel." A monotone voice all too familiar to him whispered. Lionel looked up as the stranger revealed his face. It was no other then John Reese

"John? What are you doing here?" Lionel said

"Apparently, to save you. Now let's go." John said guiding Lionel out

"Wait how did you know? Are you here alone?" Lionel asked

"You're not the only one who can find information on somebody, Lionel." Lionel didn't say anything "But I did have help." Lionel looked up and saw Harold walking, or limping, toward them

"Good evening, Mr. Fusco." Finch said as he stopped once he approached him

"Hold the phone….Did you follow me here?!" Lionel said in an accusing tone. If Harold found you, that means he followed you. No other way. Even with his limp he was like a ninja.

"Lionel, I've known you for quite some time now. I know you wouldn't ask for help." Fusco looked at Finch as he raised his eyebrows. "So here we are." Finch concluded

In the distance police sirens could be heard

"Your buddy probably called the cops." John guessed

"I got no doubt it was Azarello." Lionel said as he looks back into the alley "Stills is still laying there."

"What should we do with him, Finch?" John asks

The sirens grew louder.

"Nothing other than leaving, let the cops deal with this." Finch said as he started walking home

John and Lionel followed Finch back home.

TBC

Well that is chapter 2, I tried to come off as more as a specified version of the first chapter. I want this to actually turn into more into a drama and start involving more of the girls so I'll be sure to do that as I continue. But I felt like we should have a basic foundation of Finch and Fusco. More will be revealed in time, I hope your enjoying this cause I certainly am! My grammar and spelling may still stink, I know, but I'm working on it!

Summary: John adjusts to his new life and starts school. John tries to learn more about Finch; we learn just what kind of crowd Fusco is involved in

A/N : There is mentions of drugs so I change the rating to more of a T. Just so you know

A week has gone by since John Reese has joined his new foster family. He started to learn more about his foster siblings. Well...except for Finch. Finch is often quite. He would normally come home, from somewhere, and work on school work or doodle in a notebook. Which John himself has never seen, or what's on the inside. Speaking of school, John starts this Monday. Since it is still early in the year, he doesn't have to make up anything major. John has come a long way since he first arrived. At first, he was withdrawn and he didn't show any kindness to his siblings. This was brought to the attention of John Greer and Alicia Corwin after John and Lionel played basketball, at Lionel's request, and John chucked the ball at Lionel when he wasn't looking. Greer and Corwin never threatened to send him back or call Iris. They simply just said, "That's not how we deal with things here." Nonetheless, John grew onto them each day. He really started to grow bonds with his new siblings. Now John still has a lot of work to do, people wise. John's old neighborhood wasn't exactly kid friendly. John carried some sort of knife with him on-hand to and from school in case any trouble arised. John was later assured by Iris and his new "parents" that bringing that knife wouldn't be necessary. In fact that he would get in trouble if anyone sees it. Much like Finch, John didn't trust strangers. He always felt like he couldn't trust anybody. It's been that way for his whole life.

Monday Morning

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

Johns eyes snapped open at the sound of the alarm. And groaned when he noticed the alarm wasn't being silenced.

"Hey Lionel! Shut that thing up!" John yells as he bangs the bottom his bunk

"Whaa-? Oh yeah sorry.." Lionel apologized as he was starting to wake up himself

"Sorry won't make me go back to sleep" John said irritably as he hopped down from his bed

"Well we gotta get up anyway."

John's about to leave the room when he turns around and sees Finch still fast asleep in his bed and hearing his light snores

"Hey Fusco, Finch is still sleeping."

"I know, he sleeps like the dead. I have to wake him up myself everyday, but now since your here, you can help me."

"How do you usually wake him up?"

"On a good day, nagging. On a bad, day you might have to drag him."

"Drag him?"

"Yeah, just push him out of his bed if he won't cooperate. Then bombard him with pillows." Lionel said laughing

"Doesn't he have a bad back as it is? Wouldn't pushing him hurt him even more?" John was actually concerned

"Sometimes, but it rarely happens."

"Hm." John just left his room and headed in the bathroom, only to find it was locked

He banged the door. "What!" Shaw yelled from the inside

"Can you hurry and get out? I need to get in" John tries to be polite

Shaw cracks the door open and eyes John, who just stares back politely and gives a fake smile. Shaw grins and shuts the door in his face.

John groans and hits the wall.

"Come on Glasses! Up and at em!"

John looks back in his room and see's Fusco shaking Harold's bed with much force and sees Finch there startled and just looks at him with the most confused/Tired/annoyed look on his face

"Mr. Fusco!" Finch says as he gets up and grabs his glasses and slides them onto his face

Lionel then stops shaking the bed and smiles at John on his way out of the room, leaving just Harold and John alone. It seems Harold didn't notice John in the room because he sees Harold pull out a binder labeled 'Property Of Harold Finch" and stuffs it into his backpack. John has never seen that binder before. Harold turns to leave the room and sees John standing there

"Good Morning Mr. Reese." Finch says with a half smile on his face

"Morning Finch." John returns the kind greeting

No other words were exchanged between the two as Harold left the room and went into the restroom. Some time later he came out changed into school clothes, even though he looks more formal than school attire normally was. The whole family met downstairs for breakfast before they headed to school. Harold being the last one to join.

"John? John? JOHN!" John was dozing off, He hears someone yell, he turns to see Joss there yelling at him

"Sorry Joss, yeah?" He says tiredly

"We just wanted to know what classes you have now?"

"Oh." He says as he pulls out his schedule. It turns out he has Root in Spanish Class with him, Finch, Shaw, and Carter in Geometry, and he has Finch, Lionel, and Carter in gym/health class with him. Every other class he has alone.

"I can't believe the four of us got Physical education together." Fusco said excitedly

"Watching Fusco TRY to run the mile is really funny." Shaw snickered

"Hey short stack! Don't forget who benched more than you!" Fusco fired back

"No I benched more remember? You tried to get more but you actually dropped 150 lbs of metal on your chest."

Fusco puts his pointer finger down ashamed and continued to eat his breakfast, including the fruit he left untouched before

"Did your previous school have bullies?" Root asked John

"We did, but I kept them in line." John said calmly. "I never understood of picking on others. Where is the benefit?"

"That's why they call them bullies Johnny Boy." Root said. John looked up in supr

Root smiles and finishes eating, as well of the rest of the kids because they had to leave for school.

At School

John looked around the school as he first stepped in it. 'Typical Suburban school' he thought. Not as dirty or rugged as his other one.

"Shouldn't we give him a tour?" Fusco asks referring to John

"Well we don't have time to show him the whole school, but let's show him the main stair cases." Carter said

The 6 of them led John the main staircase

"Right now we are on the 3rd floor, going down will lead you to the 1st and 2nd floor and up will take you to the 4th." Fusco says as he points up and down with his finger

"Really? I thought it took me to candyland" John said with annoyance

"You know what wise guy?! Go get lost! See if I care! I don't need to take this, I'm OUT!" Fusco yelled as he leaves down the hall toward his first class

*RING*

"Yup, that's the 1st bell." Carter says as she starts to leave. "That bell rings a 2nd time, you'll be late. You got 5 minutes" Joss says as she leaves. Shaw starts to leave down the stairs with Carter.

"Good luck on your first day Mr. Reese." Finch says to him as he goes the opposite way from the rest of them

"Come John, our class is this way." Root nudges him

John follows Root down the hall. He stands there observing his classmates. 'They look normal enough' John thought. Suddenly he stops, the fears and anxieties were coming back. He was starting to become paranoid. He reached for his knife. He brought it against his parents wishes, all with good reason. As his hand hovers over his pocket, he breathes in and realizes he can't be seen with it or they'll take it and that will render him defenseless, or they'll call his parents. Both of those didn't settle with him. As he started to calm down he realized Root went into their class. He hurried past others in order to get to the class. He saw Root sitting at a desk with an unoccupied one next to her. He points to the other side of the room saying, "I'll just go over there." Root didn't seem offended. She just went on to work on a worksheet. The teacher then walks in.

"Looks like we have a new student." The teacher states

Meanwhile with Lionel

Lionel was in his class when his phone suddenly beeped. He took a quick look at it

'From Stills" the screen read, he sighed. He clicked on the message

'Bathroom. Now. 4th floor.'

Fusco sighed again and his hand went up

"So as you see, these numbers vary- oh yes Lionel?" His teacher said

"Can I be excused to the restroom please?" Lionel asked

"Well I'd rather you not miss this, it is very important."

"I'll be fast." Lionel pleaded

"Ok then, go ahead Fusco." His teacher said

"Thanks."

Lionel went up the 4th floor. He walked in and saw some of his 'friends', James Stills and Louis Azarello

At the beginning, all 3 of them were very good friends. Always there for one another, but Stills and Azarello went down the wrong path lately. Started doing drugs and got involved with the wrong people. They even killed when the other side didn't hold up their side of the deal. Fusco didn't want to be involved, but they guilted him by saying how they were there for him when his mom abused him, way before he went into the system. They were saying, "We were there for you, be there for us." Fusco couldn't argue with that. Plus it has been a year since their latest….accident. So what can go wrong?

"Can we make this quick? My teacher has been breathing down my neck lately and will go nuts if I'm not back soon-" Fusco began as Stills cut him off

"Fusco, we got someone bringing the stuff. We gotta pick it up at 8. And your coming!" Stills said in a calm but fierce voice

"Gee guys I don't know..I am finally happy and I got a family who cares about me. I don't wanna throw that away." Fusco sighs "And you know how much trouble I'll be in if they find out?"

"God Fusco! You are SUCH a boy scout! Plus were not asking you to take it with us. We just want you there in case something goes wrong." Azarello cuts in

"Oh I see! You want me to do the killing for you! Don't you!?" Fusco yells. They stay silent as they looked at eachother. "That's what I thought. I'm out!" Fusco said as he tried to walk out

Stills grabs ahold of Lionel's shirt collar and throws him back against the wall of the bathroom with his hands around his throat and Fusco struggling to get free and fight back

"Listen you corrupt piece of nothing! The night you came to my doorstep at midnight need I remind you! You were balling your eyes out and whining like a 5 year old but who took you in and helped you!? HUH?! WHO? Your old family? Nah, not even close!" Stills sneered "I did. And Azarello as well! We were there for you, be there for us!" Stills sneered

Fusco finally found his strength and ripped his hands from his throat and shoved him back and bellowed, "Friends wouldn't make other friends do their killing for them! You've used that saying one too many times my 'friend' as if I dare call you that anymore!"

Stills looked down for a split second and back up. "I never thought I'd have to do this, but you leave me no choice Fusco." He said as he pulled out a knife from his pocket and walked towards Lionel. Lionel's eyes went wide as he came towards him. He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe... Stills pulled out the knife and held it against Lionel's throat.

"Wanna reconsider? If not, I'm gonna have to break it to your family that Lionel commited suicide." Stills said with a mischievous grin on his face

Lionel grunted..loudly, "Fine! I won't kill anyone or do anything illegal! Are we clear?"

Stills looked at him, "You'll do what I tell you…Are WE clear?" With that Stills and Azarello left

Fusco sighed…. He banged his head against the wall. He was now lost..What happened to his once stable friends?

Lunch

John looked around the corner of a pillar in the lunchroom. He had eyes on Harold. Harold was sitting at one part of the table with two other guys. Scribbling in his notebook, the one he saw earlier. He turned his head as Fusco walked into the lunch room looking at a small note and shaking his head. Blinking a few times, John went over to Lionel

"Hello Lionel." John said in a calm voice

"Oh geez-must you sneak up on me like that?" Fusco has his eyes wide which put a smile on John's face

"Anything wrong Lionel?" John asked concerned

"If you must know, teacher issues." Lionel said as he rubbed his face in exhaustion

"What'd you do to deserve a detention?" John says as he tried to look at the note

"It's a warning. His policy is a warning which is a first offense. That means I must stay after school and clean his room. Then there's detention which is on weekends." Lionel explained "But I took too long in the bathroom."

"Really? So he times you guys?"

"Well yes and no. Not exact time, he just guesses based on how long he interprets how long we've been gone."

"Lionel, have you been researching more about our little side project?" John says changing the subject

"Yes and I must admit, I find it kind of sneaky of you to have to use the internet and background searches to learn about your own brother." Lionel said as he pulled out his little file. "Look, Harold has trust issues. And honestly, it's nothing much. I kinda peeked myself. I feel like I betrayed him by looking but then again, I wanted to know more about him. And look at me." John looked Lionel in the eye "If he ever finds out how we know about him...just be ready. " John nodded. "Who knows if he'll trust anyone if he finds out."

"How did you obtain that file Lionel?" John asked

"Mom and Dad got files on all of us. I narrowed it down to a few places in the home." Lionel leaned in toward John "One of the file cabinets in Dad's office." He whispered. John nodded. Than Lionel and John opened the file. Lionel was right, there is nothing much in here. Just his name, birth parents, birth origin, how his parents died, day of moving in with Mr. Greer and Ms. Corwin.

"Disappointed Wonder Boy?" Lionel asked

"Confused, more like it."

"You and me both friend." John looked up toward Harold and the two guys he was with

"Do you who Harold is with, Lionel?" John asked

Lionel looks over toward Finch, "Oh. That's Nathan and Arthur. Nerd friends of Glasses." Lionel told him

John continues look at Harold as he talks with his friends and doodles in his notebook, occasionally looking back behind him. John follows his eyes and the bring them to a redhead sitting with her back turned to Harold, also doodling in a notebook. 'Harold has a crush?' John thinks to himself

"Hey Lionel, see that redhead over there?" John asks as he uses his finger to guide Lionel

"Yeah, what about her?" Lionel asks

"Finch is eyeing her."

"What?" Lionel say in shock, He eventually sees Harold occasionally looking at her. "Holy cow…"

"I'll be back Lionel, stay out of trouble." John says as he goes over to Harold, ignoring the eye roll from Fusco

"Hello Finch." John greets

Harold snaps his head and torso around to face John, "Good afternoon John. How is your first day treating you?" Finch asks as he took a bite out his sandwich

"Uh yeah, pretty good. Harold, who are your friends?" John asks as he plops himself between Harold and Nathan

"Uh John, the man who you just pushed was Nathan Ingram." Harold introduced

"Hi John." Nathan greets

"Hi." John introduces himself back

"And this is Arthur Claypool." Harold pointed to the guys across the table from him

"Hi Arthur." John introduced himself . Arthur didn't seem to hear him because he was writing in a notebook, Harold's notebook

"Arthur?" Harold nudges him

"Huh? Oh hello." He said quickly as he continued writing

"Arthur has a habit of focusing too much on his work." Nathan said smiling

"Yeah I noticed." John said as he tried to see what he was writing, but Arthur had his hand covering the paper

"Well it's about 12:30, It is time to go." Harold said as he caught John's wandering eyes

"Okay, see you Harold." Nathan said as he and Arthur departed ways, leaving Harold and John alone

"John, I'd like to talk to you." Harold said

"Sure, what is going on Harold?" John asked

Harold looked around, "Not here, meet me at the bridge at the park. The underpass. After school."

"See you then." John said as he got up to leave

"Well I'm not entirely leaving you John." John looked confused by that

"We have gym." Finch clarified. John nodded

After School

John and Harold walked to the park and went under the bridge and walked through it

"You think I didn't see you behind that pillar John, or trying to look and see what's in my binder." Finch asked "I know you want to know more about me, I know you saw my file." John looked up in shocked, 'Is he mad?' John thought. "I'm not mad, but I assume if were going to be living together, you'd want to know more about me. And that's what I intend to do."

"You see Mr. Reese, the 3 of us have an idea. Never said it was..legal. You see, My father had dementia. I wanted to create him a memory machine, to help do the most basic things. Like turn of the stove, take his medications so on and so forth. My mom, died from murder. Wrong place wrong time the police said. Never believed it." John looked and saw that Finch started to have tears in his eyes, "I always believed, that something can be stopped before it happened.. That's where Nathan and Arthur came in. You see we wanted to build a machine..to let us know of a planned crime, so we can act before they can."

"You mean to tell me you try to stop murders and or crimes from happening?" John said in disbelief

"Heavens no John, not yet at least. I need to teach it proper code, maybe even morals, and not to play poker with lives, how to properly make decisions and all that. And I need to build it."

"Does Greer and Corwin know." John asks. Finch shakes his head

"Like I said Mr. Reese, only the 3..4 of us know." Finch suddenly got a serious look in his eyes

"John, you can't tell anyone about this."

"Ok Finch, I doubt they'll believe me anyway." John said

"Well you did. Anyone could.". 'Okay this is getting annoying' John thought

"Your paranoid Finch." John said

"The paranoid often survived Mr. Reese." Finch finished

Lionel

Lionel walked down the road of the shady part of the neighborhood. He was meeting with Stills and Azarello, he was walking when he heard yelling

"We had a deal man! A DEAL! You know what happens when you break a deal with us?!" It was Stills yelling

"Aye Fusco! Welcome to the party mannn!" That was Azarello..and he was high

Fusco swore internally as he was spotted

"Lionel, nice of you to join us. Guess what? It is your lucky day." Stills said as he put a gun in Lionel's hand. "Shoot him." He whispered.Fusco looked at the guy, he looked like he was going to piss himself, he looked scared, Lionel couldn't do it

Lionel looked at the gun in his hand and shook his head, "No, I will not be manipulated into helping you kill another human being." Lionel said he took the gun and drew it to Stills, "Get on the ground Stills, it's over."

Stills put his hands in the air, "Woah Fusco, now thats not a toy. You can kill someone with that." "And by the way, make sure the gun is loaded before you put it towards someone's head." Wait…

Stills got up and tackled Fusco, Lionel went to pull the trigger, but nothing came out. 'Oh no'

Stills punched Fusco and he went to the ground. He held his face in agony as he saw Stills come over him, with a loaded gun this time.

"I knew your moral compass would get in the way. So much for loyalty." He cocks the gun

"Goodbye, Lionel."

"No one will remember you…"

Lionel closes his eyes… he heard a gunshot, but didn't feel anything. He heard two grunts...and he opened his eyes to see Stills to the ground and some guy in a hood fighting and restraining him on the ground. The dealer is long gone by now and Azarello is as well. It's just the 3 of them. Stills is grunting as the the guy in the hood has his hands to Still's neck trying to choke him. Stills takes his foot and tries to kick the other guy off of him, the first couple times he has failed but once the other guy had tried to get him to stop kicking, he released Still's hand which gave him the opportunity to punch the other guys face, now stills is on top and the other guy is on the bottom. Fusco had to help. He looked around for some kind of weapon, he found a metal pole lying near a dumpster, 'jackpot'. Stills was still beating the crap outta this guy. At this point, the mysterious guy was all about protecting his face. Fusco walks toward Stills and swings the pole over his head...3 times. Once unconscious, he sees the mysterious guy stand up and brush the dirt of him/her/it. Fusco throws the pole down and grabs the back of his hoodie and shoves the guy into a dark corner where he couldn't get a look at his face.

"Who are you? why are you here?" Fusco barks getting spit all over the other human being

"Good to see you too Lionel." A monotone voice all too familiar to him whispered. Lionel looked up as the stranger revealed his face. It was no other then John Reese

"John? What are you doing here?" Lionel said

"Apparently, to save you. Now let's go." John said guiding Lionel out

"Wait how did you know? Are you here alone?" Lionel asked

"You're not the only one who can find information on somebody, Lionel." Lionel didn't say anything "But I did have help." Lionel looked up and saw Harold walking, or limping, toward them

"Good evening, Mr. Fusco." Finch said as he stopped once he approached him

"Hold the phone….Did you follow me here?!" Lionel said in an accusing tone. If Harold found you, that means he followed you. No other way. Even with his limp he was like a ninja.

"Lionel, I've known you for quite some time now. I know you wouldn't ask for help." Fusco looked at Finch as he raised his eyebrows. "So here we are." Finch concluded

In the distance police sirens could be heard

"Your buddy probably called the cops." John guessed

"I got no doubt it was Azarello." Lionel said as he looks back into the alley "Stills is still laying there."

"What should we do with him, Finch?" John asks

The sirens grew louder.

"Nothing other than leaving, let the cops deal with this." Finch said as he started walking home

John and Lionel followed Finch back home.

TBC

Well that is chapter 2, I tried to come off as more as a specified version of the first chapter. I want this to actually turn into more into a drama and start involving more of the girls so I'll be sure to do that as I continue. But I felt like we should have a basic foundation of Finch and Fusco. More will be revealed in time, I hope your enjoying this cause I certainly am! My grammar and spelling may still stink, I know, but I'm working on it!


	3. Christmas Time!

Hey y'all!! Since it is so close to Christmas, I decided to make a short drabble of John's first christmas with his new family! Enjoy!!

Summary: John and his family are preparing for the holidays.

(Family Fluff)

"Hello? Anyone home?" someone snaps John from his drowsy state. It was none other than Lionel looking at him with his normal sarcastic expression

"Welcome back sunshine. Can you kinda get up and help decorate this tree."

"Yeah." John got up and helped with some decorations

All 5 siblings were decorating the tree. Harold was the only one not there. Harold announced he had homework and evacuated to their room.

Harold comes down the stairs eventually, "The tree looks nice." He smiles. Then he frowns and looks down, "Sorry I couldn't help."

Root quickly jumps in, "You can't control your responsibilities Harry." she smiles at him

Harold looks a bit uncomfortable. He never liked the nickname Harry. He thought it was too….informal. And weird

John looked at Harold "Well, can you at least hang out with us for a bit?"

Harold smiles and shrugs, "Aw why not. I hate missing sentimental moments with my family."

They hung around for a bit. Talking and laughing. John couldn't help but notice Harold. Harold looked like that if he didn't hold onto this moment, he'd lose it. Harold hasn't really tried to get close to him. For some odd reason. But he knew Harold was holding onto this moment.

Later that evening before the three boys went to bed, John saw Harold crack the blinds so that the lights outside of the house shined on the inside of their room. John walked in and stood beside Harold. Harold looked at John. John smiled and Harold smiled back.

"Mr. Reese, you have lived here quite some time now. And all I can say is...thank goodness we found you."

John is touched. He lived there for 3 months now and he feels like he's known his siblings for eternity. He even felt that protective brother feeling over Finch. He didn't like it when something seemed off or wrong with Finch. Harold even had that feeling as well. Not that'd he admit it.

"The holidays are rough for me." Finch admitted "It makes me realize..that time is limited and the ones that are close to you. Won't be forever." John looked at Finch ready for what was coming next "Of course I understood the concept of death earlier on, but I mean...they could be gone sooner than one's anticipated."

"I know the feeling Finch."

Harold looks back up to John, "I know Mr. Reese. But you know what. I am sick and tired of you, and myself, having to look through files in order to find out more about each other. Now that doesn't mean I'm going to spill about everything, but If I feel like I can trust you with certain things...I most certainly will."

"You'll need to trust someone eventually, Finch."

It was one in the morning Christmas Eve. Branches from trees were hitting the windows of Lionel, John, and Harold's room. But all 3 boys woke up to

"OH MY GAWD ITS SNOWIN'"

"SNOW?!"

"OKAY, like you've never seen snow before!"

They heard footsteps coming down the hall and Root and Shaw opened their door.

"Guys! It's snowing and its at least 4 inches! Come on!" Root yelled in excitement

Lionel seemed just as excited and quickly got on more layers and followed them out. John hopped off his bunk and slowly got his layers on as well

"I guess I'm going as well."

Harold looked less than impressed, "I'm going to get some more sleep." Harold suddenly collapsed on his pillow.

John frowned but left nonetheless. He walked outside and saw Root, Shaw and Lionel going insane in the snow. Making snowman, just touching it. It was so beautiful. The calm white snow falling. It was a gorgeous sight.

"Where's Glasses and Carter?" Fusco asked covered in snow

"Harold's sleeping, as for Joss I thought she's be here with OOF-" John was cut off as he felt something hit the back of his head. Shaw also made the same shocked sound as a snowball hit her too. Root and Fusco were both rolling in the snow laughing as both the mayhem twins got caught off guard by Harold and Joss, just standing on the patio laughing and high fiving each other. Shaw and Reese exchanged a few glances before they dug their gloves into the snow and made snowballs and went toward Harold and Joss

Harold got a bit scared when he saw them coming toward him, "John, please don't. I apologise."

John grew a big smirk on his face, "It's too late for that Harold."

Carter didn't seem scared as she dug her hands into the snow and gave some to Finch, "We got this Harold."

John and Shaw suddenly started pelting them with snow as they did the same. Root and Lionel even got involved and it turned into a full blown snowball fight.

That night, or morning if you will, some new memories have been made. John and Harold have some new understandings of each other. Yup this is going to be one of the best Christmas' ever

Hey, so like I said early on, this is more of a little drabble since it's so close to Christmas. So that's all this is...a drabble.

Have a good holiday everyone!


	4. Chapter 4: The Past Always Catches Up

Summary: Harold past catches up to him; Carter is suspicious of Lionel's activity with a certain crowd

Since there is some mentions of Drugs, this is rated to T.

Some drama, I honestly didn't want to go through that short period where John and Harold didn't trust each other so I kind of jumped into it.

Transition

John walked into the house. It was around 5:15. He had just finished basketball practice. Mr. Greer and Ms. Corwin had insisted that he'd join a sport. To help him make friends, and since he is still upset with his mom passing and talking to a therapist doesn't really seem to help him, he can be aggressive on the basketball court. To a certain degree. He walks to the fridge to grab a water bottle as he hears speaking in the other room. John peeks in and is shocked at what he sees.

"Okay, do you feel any pain?" some sort of voice asks

"Yes. Quite a lot actually." To John's surprise it was the voice of Harold who responded. Harold did not look good. Harold was on a bed, with his shirt off, and some doctor twisting Harold that John didn't know he could twist

"If you had to guess on a scale of one to ten, how much does it hurt?" The doctor asks while Finch looks like his brain is about to pop out at any moment

"Well since you're trying to spin my body all the way around…50!" Finch barks. John just stood there wide eyed

"Harold!" Greer snaps "Mind yourself. I apologise." He apologises to the doctor, though Finch doesn't look like he's going to calm down anytime soon. John has never seen Harold so angry. 'Why was he so angry?' he thought

"What do you think you're doing!" A voice snaps at John as he realized he was just standing there in shock. He turns to see it was Root who has whisper-yelled at him

"It's not polite to stand and stare you know?" Root says sarcastically

John rolls his eyes, "I came in and heard voices and saw...that." John turned once more toward that room Harold was in

"Harry doesn't like it when we stare. 'It's none of our business' he says" Root said using air quotes with her fingers

"So I take it you don't know why Finch being twisted like a pretzel?" John asks

As Root was about to respond the door to the room opened and the doctor and Ms. Greer walked out. They didn't say anything as the two adults walked by. The both of them turned to see Finch walk out of the room with Mr. Greer, shirt on, and he looked to be a bit more in pain with his limp more noticable. Greer was helping support Harold as they walked out but once Harold acknowledged John and Root, he shook Greer's support off of him. Noticing how uncomfortable Harold was, Root decided to exit the room. John didn't move. Harold looked like he was about to fall in any given second. And he wasn't to far off, Harold's knees gave in and buckled as he fell to the ground, with a pained grunt. John moved fast and caught him before he hit the ground. Harold looked up in embarrassment and once he got to his feet he shoved John off of him to, "Off please." Harold said as he slowly went up the stairs. John swore he heard a mumbled 'thank you' as Harold went up.

"Don't take it personally." Greer said to John "He never likes having a crowd when he looks 'weak' in Harolds words. He doesn't even like it when your mother and I are present for his therapy sessions. But we want to make sure he remains...ok"

"That was therapy? He was being twisted like a pretzel!" John suddenly snaps at Greer

Greer didn't look mad, just confused "You saw?"

'Crap' John thinks "Just for a bit though. Is he okay?"

"In time." Greer states "He fell down the stairs at school. Some kid accidently pushed him." John was about to kill someone. He knew what 'accidents' meant. "He took a painkiller, but he couldn't focus in school because the pill wasn't working. He had to come home. So we called a nurse and she gave him a quick check up. And some therapy to, supposedly, help him. But he just got irritated and mad that he wasn't doing any better. Though the truth is he is a very lucky lad. And much better than before"

Greer concluded

"How so?" John asked in curiosity, this is one way to learn about Finch

Greer smiled, "It's not my place to say. Harold wouldn't like it. Look John, I did tell you a lot. You know as much as everyone else does. I wouldn't ask him. Just be patient, but if he does give you or anyone else trouble, let me know. Okay? He will be irritable for a bit" Greer says

"Okay." John responds

Greer smiles and gives John a pat on the shoulder as he leaves, but stops and turns around, "And don't use that tone with me again, you understand?"

John nods, "yes sir."

Greer turns around again, "It's nice to see you care about your brother."

John smiles and nods back, "well you guys helped me when I needed it."

Harold is the only one in his room. He was laying on his bed. His back is starting to feel better after the shot the nurse gave him. 'Stupid back.' 'Stupid...Harold!' he mentally yelled at himself. 'How could I have been seen so weak in front of John and Ms. Groves?' He mentally abused himself. He always got like this whenever his back does this to him. After yelling internally at himself for a couple of minutes, He was starting to feel the effects of the medicine though. He was starting to doze off.

2 years ago

Transition

Harold and Nathan were in some electronics store downtown. Harold was intrigued by some computer software that Nathan himself couldn't understand

"Harold, lets go! We must go! We were supposed to be back…10 minutes ago!" Nathan yelled as he checked his watch "Harold let's go, Now!" Nathan says as he grabs Harold's arm and guides him out of the store

"Nathan! I was looking at that! Oh whatever!" Harold sighs in defeat

Nathan and Harold ran down the street. They reached the intersection as they both parted ways

"Harold, you better hope I don't get in trouble because of you." Nathan gives a accusing finger

"Good night to you too Nathan." Harold says as they both went down different directions

Harold wasn't running, more like speed walking down the block. He was in a shady part of town...His home was like 15 minutes away, so he is getting nervous. Harold stops in his tracks as he sees a couple of men.just out of college, in the middle of the sidewalk, smoking cigars with beer cans laying all over the place, and snorting god knows what.

"What are you looking at?" One of the men say to him

"Oh nothing, I'm just trying to get by." Harold says as he tries to keep walking but another guy stands up and grabs the back of Harolds jacket.

"Don't be coming around this part of town, got it?" the guy sneers in his face. The guy reeks of tobacco.

"You know, you shouldn't smoke. It can cause irreparable damage to your lungs later on." Harold tries to be useful

"Oh. So boy scout is lecturing us!?" He sneers at Finch

"OH goodness no. Just trying to help." Finch is really scared now

"We don't want your help." He says as he brings his fist down to gets Finch in the stomach.The guy drops Harold as he doubles over in pain. The other guy brings his foot to Harolds face which causes him to turn onto his back and all of them start stomping on him. Harold did a lot to make himself look presentable, now what was the point.

"YO guys look what I found!" one of them found a large pipe

In Harolds bloody state, he was able to make out the item in his hand. He had enough energy to rasp, "pleassse….s-stop…" Harold pleads

In response one guy picks Harold up and holds his arms back and the guy with the pipe strikes him with all his strength against his head. The guy threw Harold on his stomach and they all started stomping on him again and again. Even the guy with the pipe struck his back many times, he swore he heard some cracks every now and then. If he was going to die, let it be now

"Hey! What are you guys doing!" A distant voice yells as they all panic

"Let's go!" One of them yells as they all ran down the street into the night

The voice that yelled was none other than a policeman. Him and another guy ran over to Harold and kneed right by his side.

"Oh my god.." he says in a sad voice. "Call 911! We need an ambulance! He's losing blood" He says to his partner

"Hey buddy, you need to stay awake for me ok?" The policemen asks once he knows Harold is conscious

Harold didn't respond as his eyelids felt heavier

"Hey hey hey buddy, please stay awake." He gently shakes him "What's your name pal?"

"H--Har...Harol-" was all Finch finished before he fell unconscious

John Greer and Alicia Corwin were sitting at home on their couch waiting for their son Harold to return home. At the time, Harold has lived with them for 6 months. Harold was their first foster child. About a month after the took in Harold, they started fostering Lionel fusco. Then about a month or two after they fostered Samantha Groves.

The two foster parents were getting angry and worried that Harold wasn't back yet. Since Harold was out with his friend Nathan Ingram, they decided to call his parents to ask if Nathan was home yet. The phone rang before they called. It was the Ingrams

Alicia answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Alicia, listen Nathan returned home very late but I had to call to make sure Harold was home safely." Ms. Ingram said

"Uh no, he has not returned yet. I was about to call to see if Nathan knew anything?"

"yeah , he is the one who suggested I'd call. Apparently he got Harold's voicemail 6 times.."

Alicia puts a hand to her face sighs, "Okay, John and I are going out to find him. See if the neighbors saw anything…"

Ms. Ingram sighs, "Nathan says he can't reach Harold. Do you want us to help?"

"No, I'm sure we have it." Alicia didn't want to involve other people who could get hurt

"Okay, call us if you hear or need anything." Ms. Ingram says

As soon as Alicia hung up, the phone rang again

NYC HOSP.. the caller ID read

"Hello.." Alicia says in a shaky voice

"Hello ma'am, I am calling because we have your son Harold Finch-." the man on the other line read before he was caught off

"What happened?" Alicia yells as Greer stands up

"By the looks of it, he was beaten...badly." The guy says with no sympathy whatsoever

"Ok, what room is he in?" Alicia says as she panics to find a notepad. She gets the information from the man and hangs up to get her keys, jacket, and purse.

"What is happening?" Greer asks as he sees his wife going nuts

"Harold is in the hospital, we have to leave now!" She says barely putting her whole foot in her shoe

Greer and Alicia were rushing out of the house when the three kids came out of the shadows

"Is Harold in the hospital?" Root speaks up. They all wait for their response

"Yes, but-" Alicia was cut off

"Can we come?" Lionel begs

"Ok fine, but No. Trouble. Got it?" Both kids nod their heads and go get their coats and shoes as they board the automobile to go to the hospital

As the arrive, Alicia checks in and the nurse then leads them to Harold's hospital room. She warns them about Harolds current physical state. The nurse lead all four of them, John and Alicia in front, to Harold's room. Once they arrived, the nurse stepped out of the way and let the parents step in. John stopped and made it was ok before the kids went in. All they heard was Alicia gasp as she turned to John. She shook her head violently. She signaled him to get the two kids out of there.

"Root, Lionel, lets go get a snack." Greer suggests hoping they will follow

"You do remember we are 13 right?" Root sasses

"And that it's 12:24.." Lionel added

"Look, right now I don't want to argue with you. I want to be in that room with your brother and your mother. So please, just go with it." John begs the kids

The two kids look at eachother but agreed nonetheless.

"Good, now sit over there and wait for us." Lionel and Root sat while John went into Harold's room with Alicia

When John looked into the room, he swore his eyes deceived him. There was Alicia holding Harolds left hand and sobbing into it. As for Harold himself, he was a mess. You could barely tell it was him. The bandages cover of his face. You can see the dry blood, the stitches, the bruises, the swelling. It was almost too much. He knew it was Harold because of the messy, mousy hair he has. Such a kind, and bright boy, he didn't deserve this.

The nurse walked in, "You must be the parents of Harold I presume."

Both parents nodded their heads

"Look, I'm just going to hit you with it. He is stable, and he will be alright in due time. But I will tell you the worst is this…" She handed them a picture of Harold's spine. It was all snapped and disjointed.

"Is that his spine?" John winces inwardly

"Yes it is. He is going to need some sort of spine reconstruction surgery. When he wakes up of course. We don't think he is paralyzed, but his walking will be affected. As well as neck movement."

"Oh my…" Alicia sighs. She starts to sob

John puts a hand on her shoulder and glances and the motionless Harold. He begins to cry as well.

Transition

Finch…

Finch.

Finch!

Harold wakes up seeing John over him. Harold groans and looks at the time 5:30… 'Dang it's late.' he thought

"Time to eat Harold." John says as Finch sits up

Finch is still grumpy and embarrassed about their encounter earlier, "I'm not hungry."

"You have to eat Finch." John says calmly. Finch heard the concern in his voice. He cringed

"You are not my mother Mr. Reese. So please go and leave me alone." Finch goes and sits at the desk and turns his back

John sighs and turns to go downstairs. Finch immediately turns around feeling guilty being so short and rude to him. He knows he is trying to help. But he's is just not in the mood to deal with anything

John went down the stairs by himself and his family notices the lack of a body coming down with him

"Is Harold coming?" Mr. Greer asks

"He said he is not hungry. And he is still mad about earlier." John eyes Root, who stares back

Mr. Greer puts his hands to his face and sighs and turns to Alicia, "He hasn't even touched his lunch when he came home."

Alicia nods, "I'll bring him his sandwich from earlier and bring some tea. He has had a rough day."

Unknown to the family, Harold was behind a wall of the staircase listening in

"So, what happened to Harold? I knew you wanted to say something earlier Root." John looks over to Root

Lionel and Root looked at eachother, then they looked back down at their food

"So you two do know huh? Even you Lionel?" John asks

"That is enough John!" Greer snaps "Like I said earlier, you know what everyone else knows. If Harold doesn't want anyone to know, he has a right to that. And believe me, he has his reasons."

The rest of dinner was eaten in silence.

Saturday Morning

John woke up earlier than his family. He got down from his bunk and saw Lionel and Harold still fast asleep. He checked the hallway before exiting the house. John texted Nathan Ingram, unknown to Harold, asking him to meet him at some coffee place. If anyone knew what happened to Harold, it'll be him.

John arrived and saw Nathan looking around, probably looking for John. John took a seat across from Nathan

"Can you tell me...why I am here at..5:00 in the morning?" Nathan asks irritated

"Nathan, I'm going to be honest with you. Something happened to Harold." Nathan sighs and closes his eyes. John continues, "And I think you know about it."

Nathan avoids eye contact as he fidgets with his fingers. Slightly drumming on the table. Nathan smiles at John and gets up.

"Look, I made a promise to Harold. Who I consider a dear, dear friend. I'm not going to take his promise and squash it. I'm not going to take his promise, which doesn't need to be written on paper because he has my word, and break it." Nathan says as he starts to walk away "Have a good day, John."

John looks up confused. Nathan was very specific about this 'promise'. Nathan really emphasized the words 'squash' and 'paper'. Why? John pondered for a few minutes...He looked down and saw a little strip of paper Nathan left behind. He picked it up and looked at it. It had a date...November 3rd 1999...He looked on both sides and found nothing intriguing about it. He felt the texture of the paper he was holding. It was part of a newspaper. Then it clicked… 'Paper…' Nathan's voice repeated in this head.Whatever happened to Harold..ended up in the paper. John quickly got up and went to a local library. He approached the librarian

"Hello young man. How may I help you today?" She asks politely

"Do you have newspapers from around 1999? November of 99 to be exact." He asks politely

"Well of course. We like to keep record of this town's history.." She smiles at John as he smiles back "What's your interest?"

"Just curious as all." John says as he tries to keep his patience

"Okay then. Let me see what we have." SHe says as he heads towards the back

"Great. Thanks."

She soon returns out later with a stack of papers. "These are from November 19th to December 10th..Is that satisfactory?"

John smiles, "Yes, this is perfect. Thank you so much."

"No problem Honey." She pats his shoulder

John quickly takes the newspaper and looks for one from December 3rd.

November 1st, 2nd, ahah..3rd' He looks for any headliners indicating what happened to Harold. 'Cupcake poisoning' 'drug dealer arrested' ' 'Kid hospitalized..' 'Wait what?'

He turns the page back and sees a headliner labeled, "Local Teen Hospitalized"

He quickly skims the article. John went numb. Basically, it said how a kid, Harold, was jumped by a bunch of potheads and was beaten and had spinal deformities. The perpetrators were kids out of college being dumb. And what scared John the most, was that Harold was alone when he was jumped. John closed the newspaper in silence. A sudden wave of guilt washed over John. He now knew why Harold didn't want him or Carter or Shaw to know. But why did Root and Lionel know? 1999...About the time they were fostered with Greer and Corwin according to them...They were living with them when this happened. John felt like he had just betrayed him. On Christmas Eve. Harold admitted he would eventually tell John things about himself...in time.

John later went home and went into their garage to look for Harold. And sure enough there as Harold in the garage on his laptop.

John walked in and put his hands into his pockets, "Finch."

Harold's head pops up and he turns his whole upper body around to face John, "Yes, John."

John struggles to find the words. He doesn't say anything his mouth is slightly opening but no words come out..

Harold smiles, "Nathan told me about the encounter you and he had. Actually the day you texted him, he told me."

Johns expression completely changed. He looked like one of those largemouth basses.

"He wanted to ask if it was ok to give you some clue of what happened. Who do you think gave him that piece of the newspaper with the date?" Harold said as he turned around and opened a drawer and pulled out a newspaper. It was the article John found in the library about Harold, except this time there was no date at the top of it. John put his hand back in his pocket and pulled out the little slip of paper Nathan gave him and held it to the the rip in the article. A perfect fit. Harold leaned back and put his arms over his chest. John looked down at him. Harold seemed fine, not angry. Then again it did take a lot to anger Harold.

"John, I am not happy that you went behind my back. However. I did know from the very moment you stepped into this house. You wanted to know about everybody who you were living with. I did the same thing myself. And they did the same with me. And I always said, careful for what you look for, you might just find it. And you did find it."

John looked back towards the newspaper, "Why do you want that around? Do you really want to be reminded of that event?"

"You don't want to forget the past Mr. Reese. As you can tell.." Harold said gesturing to himself "I am clearly not going to forget about it anytime soon. This is part of who I am. And now I have to deal with the consequences."

John nods. Harold had an Idea. He took the ripped part of the newspaper and taped it back to the actual paper. Harold got up and went toward the door to exit the garage with the newspaper in his hand.

"What are you doing?" John asks

Harold turns back around, "Something I should've done a long time ago." He exits the garage

John follows him out and follows Harold into the basement where the rest of their siblings are. He takes the newspaper and throws it on Carter's lap. Both Carter and Shaw glance at it as Root and Lionel look at each other in shock.

"What is this?" Shaw asks in confusion "Some kid gets beaten by college kids…"

"Glasses.." Fusco says in concern

"Harry….." Root says in the same concern voice

Harold ignored their concern, "That boy…" Harold looks at John and says, "Is me." He finishes

John suddenly felt a wave of guilt wash over him. "Finch, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make it seem you had to tell us."

"You made him tell them this?!" Root yelled

John looked baffled "No, I found out, I told him I knew, He came here to tell them. I swear I didn't force him."

"Mr. Reese is right Ms. Groves. So if you'd please be kind enough to not fire accusations at him, it would be nice." Harold stood in front of John

Root glares at John "I just don't want you to feel...forced Harry."

"I assure you Ms. Groves I'm not. This is all me. I am about 2 years overdue for this. I guess I wanted to pretend it never happened. I just wanted to ignore my reality."

Carter spoke up "Hey after reading this, I'd do the same thing, Finch."

''Do you really have spinal deformities?" Shaw asked

"Well yes, some. I mostly have neck and lower back problems but in order to fix it they'd have to do some spinal surgery."

"Did you ever do the surgery?" John asks

"No. I never did. I chose to live with the pain mostly because at the time, I felt like I deserved it. Some parts of me still feel like that."

"I think you should do it." John said. Harold looked confused, "The surgery" John clarified

Harold closed his eyes, "Look, a lot has gone out into the open today. I do not wish to continue talking about this. I would like attention to be off of me. Please?"

All of them agreed, reluctantly.

Transition

Harold returned to school that monday. With the protests from his parents, but after the weekend he has had, all he wants is to return to his normal, or at least somewhat, normal life.

After all that's happened, all Lionel wants to do is to be left alone. He is still somewhat bothered about what happened with Stills and Azarello. John and Harold had both suggested a therapist, but all of them knew they would need permission from their parents. And they didn't know how they'd pull it off without raising suspicion. Even Carter, one of Lionel's closets friends, has some suspicion about him when she sees him talking with Patrick Simmons, one of the school's biggest troublemakers. Simmons does have a way of leaving a clean path. Straight A's, his personality, it's all a mirage. But she seems to be the only one thinking that

As Lionel comes into the cafeteria, she drops her stuff across from him.

"How you doing Fusco?"

Fusco raises an eyebrow "Carter, you never have lunch now."

"We had a quiz, so our teacher moved us to this lunch." She clarified

Fusco takes a bite out of his sandwich, "Hm. So what's up?"

"I'm pretty sure I asked you first, Fusco!" She suddenly barks

Lionel goes wide eyed and moves back. Almost falling out of his seat. He knew something was wrong, it takes a lot to piss off Carter.

"Whats wrong with you? You're acting like I just committed a crime and your interrogating me!"

She suddenly gets closer, "After seeing you with Simmons, I can't help to see that happening in the future."

Fusco scoffs, "You are the only one in this school who has some unknown reason despising him."

She is getting more mad by the minute, "It isn't only me Fusco! Bill, Donnelly and Cal even had a hunch something was up!"

Fusco looked less than impressed, "Still, its 3 against 1100."

Carter squinted her eyes, "3 people with senses."

Fusco packed up his stuff, "Look, I don't care what you say, ok? But he is my friend, and I don't need to hear this. Why don't you talk to Glasses,the Mayhem twins, or even Cocoa puffs about this." Fusco said as he left.

Once he was out of sight in the boys bathroom. He suddenly got so angry. He punched the wall. Immediately regretting it after. What Carter had said was 100% right. There is something fishy with Simmons. Stills and Azarello had gotten him involved with Simmons and now that they are both "out". Simmons turned to Fusco. Nothing terrible has happened, yet. Fusco turns to leave and meets him with John standing there

Fusco has had enough for one day, "You...again!"

"Hello, Lionel." John says in a calm voice "Mind telling me why Carter is all pissed off."

"Can you hear me all the time? Or do you just liking poking your big nose in everyone else's business"

John shrugs "Well, I hate to see friends of mine mad at eachother."

Fusco gives up, "OK well her and her little posse think I'm dirty."

John gave him a serious look, "That's because you are dirty, Lionel."

"Oh great, why don't you join her 'Hate Fusco' club!"

"It's not hate when someone cares about you."

Fusco ignored him and walked out

RING

"That's the bell, see you later."

John frowned as Lionel walked out

Transition

Carter had asked John to meet her at a local cafe after school. She needed to get some things off of her chest. Overtime, she really got fond of John. He never talked, just listened. Carter fiddled with her thumbs waiting for John. He always had a thing of sneaking up on her. He wasn't going to get her this time. She was fully alert

"Hello Joss." a sudden voice came from behind

"AHH!" she yelled as she threw her coffee at the mysterious voice, which of course was John

"Joss, I don't I have ever heard of coffee shampoo before."

Joss gasps and suddenly grabs napkins, "Oh my god I am so sorry John!" but then she remembers why she screamed in the first place. She slaps his shoulder

"Hey! What was that for. First you say your sorry, then you slap me. I am having a hard time forgiving you." John jokes

"Well if you hadn't scared me, I wouldn't have thrown the coffee at you. One day, I'm just going to punch you."

"I get that a lot." Joss starts to laugh

"Of course you do."

After a few moments of silence, and getting coffee off John, he finally asked, "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

Carter sighed, "Just life."

John waited a few minutes before speaking, "How is your life, Carter?"

"My life is good John, I have essays, people to deal with, dirty brothers…" John looks up

"Lionel is making a bad move hanging with Simmons." John nodded his head

"What, thats is? No feedback John." Joss asks quietly

John smiled "I thought you wanted to talk. So that would make me the listener."

"John, please I'm being serious. Can you give me some advice?"

John sighs, "Look, you warned Lionel. He chose to ignore it. What else can you do? All you can do is wish for the best at this point."

"I just feel like I should do more, I mean he is my-our brother."

"I know. You always do feel like more can be done. But, Lionel has to make his mistakes. Even if it hurts to watch."

Joss smiled, "John, since when were you so wise?"

John laughs, "To be honest, I just rolled with it."

Joss and John laughed as they finished their coffees.

Transition

Mark Snow and Kara Stanton had both been expelled for disorderly conduct...5 times. Both parents of Mark and Kara thought it would be best to separate them for the time being. Kara was sent to a private school and Mark was sent to a more suburban type school. Unknown to Mark, it is the new school John attends.

TBC

Whew! Here is chapter 4. I am trying to balance the friendship/tension. Like I said, I wanted to involve the girls a bit more. I know it doesn't seem like much, but one step at a time. I hope everyone is enjoying this so far!


	5. Chapter 5: Happy Homecoming?

**Summary: Harold, Nathan, and Arthur move forward with plans for the Machine; The Homecoming Dance is right around the corner. Should be a fun time. Right?** **1 year ago**

Jessica just left history and went to her locker. She was so stressed out! The homecoming dance coming up but school made it so hard to enjoy it. She opened her locker and a note fell out.

'Look behind you.' was all it said

Jessica did just that and was met with John right there. She screamed a little bit and embraced him. John looks into her eyes as she looks into his. 'John was the best thing about this cruddy school' she thought. He would walk her home to ensure her safety because the neighborhood was….well it was rough.

"Jessica, I have something to ask you."John smiles

"And what would that be?" she said as she touched his face

John held her hands in his, "Jessica Arndt, would you come with me...to the homecoming dance?"

Jessica laughed, "I thought you'd never ask…" John laughs

"Wanna get going?" Jessica asks as she closes her locker

"Um I can't. Mark, Kara, and I have an assignment due. But I do want to walk with you. Wait for me. Okay?"

Jessica nods…"Okay, I'll be in the cafeteria." She gives John a quick kiss on the cheek and walks to the cafeteria

Knowing she'd be okay for a bit, he went to the science classroom where he met with Mark and Kara.

"Nice of you to join us, John." Mark says sarcastically

"Nice to see you too Mark." John grins

Mark and John stare at each other for a couple of minutes until Kara speaks up, "Can you two kiss already so I can go home?"

John, Mark, and Kara have been working until John's cell rang. It read Jessica's caller ID. John quickly answered it despite the unapproving glares from Kara and Mark

"Jessica?" John says in a low voice

"John, I need hel-help. I.. I just..Oh my god…." She stutters as she starts to cry on the phone

"Jessica. I need you to calm. down. I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong." John struggled to remain calm

"Okay...my mom called, there was a situation at the house with my father. There was a guy threatening to kill him. I got to the house, he sees me. Tries to shoot me. I hide. I'm still hiding. Please help me soon John…"

"Okay. I will be there as soon as possible. Keep me on the line. Stay quiet and-" John said as he got his stuff but heard a yell as he was cut off

"There you are!" Some guy on the other line yells

John hears Jessica scream. The line was cut off. John hears a gunshot close. Jess's house was 2 blocks away. He runs out of the room, ignoring the protests from his two 'friends'. When he gets out of the school, he pulls his knife out of his pocket. Normally, he'd stop home for one of his dad's guns but there was no time. By the time he got to Jessica's house, the EMT's and cops were there. John shoved his way around the neighbors as he tried to get a look. No sign of Jessica.

"Jessica!" John yells. People around him wonder about who he is yelling for. John looks into the doorway of her home and sees a gurney being pulled out of the house.

'No no no no no no no no no' John kept repeating to himself as he tried to get to the gurney to see who it was that was under there.

"Hey! You aren't allowed past here pal." the cop says calmly to John

John had hell's fury in his eyes, but struggled to be calm."Can you just pull it down so I can see who it is that is under there?" He begs

"Can't. Sorry pal. You're not allowed past here" The cop says

"Well in that case…" John takes his fingers and strikes the cop in his eyes

As the cop backs off and groans in pain, he runs under the caution tape makes a run for the gurney. He quickly yanks it off to see Jessica in there... dead. Johns eyes go wide as he slowly falls to his knees. Suddenly he felt lost. He grabs Jessica's hand and sobs into it. Three more cops quickly run and grab John off the ground and cuff him.

 **Transition**

Homecoming was in one week. John frowned. Almost exactly one year ago, his one and only true friend was killed. He never did much of….anything since then. He was just standing there looking at the poster for the dance

"You going to the dance?" Carter says as she approaches him

John looks back for a second before quickly replying, "No."

"Why not?" She pushes

"Just don't want to." John said as he walked away

 **Transition**

Harold, Nathan, and Arthur were in Nathan's garage. Harold at the main computer typing in codes as Arthur is assisting and Nathan observing.

"So, how would we get it to send us murder messages?" Nathan asks

"Nathan, we can't jump into it. First, we have to define human to it. Make it understand that you cannot gamble with lives. We also need to make sure it knows the difference between relevant and irrelevant threats."

"Mr. Morals." Nathan mumbles to himself, but Nathan didn't even know the difference between irrelevant and relevant, "What's the difference."

Arthur jumps in "Relevant is referring to national security and irrelevant are the ones the government does not care about."

Harold pointed to Arthur in agreement and nods his head

"So which ones do we get?" Nathan asks

Harold and Arthur exchange a 'is he serious?' expression

Harold turn to Nathan "The irrelevants of course Nathan! How could we possibly stop crimes relevant to national security?"

"How could we stop irrelevant crimes, Harold?!" Nathan yells as he angrily stands up "How can we possibly stop the local criminals from preventing crimes?! I don't know about you two, but I do not know fight against some criminal. Nor would I want to."

Harold smiled, "You should know I like to be one step ahead." He turned back to his computer to me

Nathan walked towards Harold, "What do you mean?"

Finch ignored him and his computer screen turned black

"What's it doing?" Nathan asks

Finch ignores him once again and asks the blank screen, "Who am I?"

The screen turned on with Harolds face in a tiny little box labeled ADMIN

Nathan looked almost impressed, "Ok, so it knows who you are..big deal."

Harold turns back to the machine, "Who is this nice guy behind me?"

The computer zoomed in on Nathan as the screen came up 'Nathan Ingram'

Harold asked it again, "Can you tell me about him?

The screen listed many facts about him. Like birthday, parents, education, associates etc..

Harold turned back to him. Harold just got up on his high horse.

"Okay, but you still haven't answered my ques-"

Harold cut Nathan off, "Can you find a picture of potential primary asset?"

The machine looked like it was thinking...but after a few moments. A guys picture came up.

Nathan's eyebrows went up "Is that Rick Dillinger?" Nathan asks

Harold nods his head yes. Rick Dillinger was a classmate of Nathan, Harold and Arthur. He was a very impatient person. If you didn't what he'd ask, he would do something unpleasant. That is one of the doubts Harold had about him

Nathan scoffs, "So what do we tell him? Rick that is. Hey do you want to work for a Artificial intelligence that we built, but it's a secret so you can't tell anyone."

Harold looked actually insulted, "No Nathan, not until the machine is fully functionable and reliable."

"And when would that be?" Nathan asks

"At the very least, after college."

A 'lightbulb' went off in Nathan's head, "Hey! What about your new brother? He'd make a good asset."

"No." Harold replied quickly, "Not John."

"Why not?" Nathan asks in disbelief, "He's loyal, he has skills, and you did tell him about the machine-"

"I only told him because I didn't want him to continue digging!" Harold interrupted "If he did keep digging, it would put him in danger for the future. Plus, John has issues that he needs to sort out. I don't think he needs this right now."

"What about your other siblings? Like Shaw." Nathan pointed out

Arthurs head looked up. He had a tiny crush on Shaw. Not that Harold or Nathan knew

"Look, I'm not going to involve my family into this. Maybe, just maybe, in the future. But if anything happens. Let it be me…" Harold looked toward the computer

Nathan and Arthur looked confused, "What?" they both say

Harold turns back to them, "Oh, I was talking to the machine."

Nathan waves a dismissive hand, "No not that. The 'let it be me' part"

"Look, what we are doing, isn't exactly giving me the best feeling. I do not feel at ease. If this ever got into the wrong hands.." Harold stopped and put his head in his fist "Look, if anyone ever hears about this, or if someone declares some sort of war or something...Just let IT be me."

Nathan is getting annoyed with Harolds vague statements, "What IT Harold."

"If anyone had to DIE, Nathan. LET IT BE ME!" Harold realized the sudden change in atmosphere. Nathan and Arthur looked at Harold in shock

Nathan puts his hands up "Woah, Harold. We are bringing a life, this machine, into the world, and you are talking about the death of...you. Why do you have to be like that."

"I'm just listing possibilities of outcomes of what could happen, once we release the Machine." Harold clarified

Nathan and Arthur looked at each other in concern.

"Yeah, so I've got to go home. Dinner." Arthur says as he gathers his stuff and walks out, "I'll see you ladies in the morning." Arthur winks and walks out

Nathan and Harold look at each other in disgust. Harold decides to get up and go home as well.

"I'll see you in the morning Nathan." Harold said as he leaves

Nathan waves him out "Bye, Harold."

As Harold walks into his house, he takes off his jacket and hat. He is met by Root just sitting on a couch reading her book and looking at Harold.

"Do you need anything, Ms. Groves?" Harold asks getting uncomfortable with the awkward silence

Root closed her book, "Harry, it's Root."

"Ms. Groves, Its Harold." Harold said calmly and not blinking

Root stands up and moves toward Harold. Who slowly backs up against the wall. But Root stops in her tracks, "You scared of me, Harold?"

"Ms. Groves, no offense but whenever you are around. I feel very uneasy." Harold admits

"Fine. Fair enough. But just know, I'll be apart of whatever it is you are doing someday."

Harold just stares back at her. He doesn't realize how weird he looks against the wall

"Everything okay in here?" Alicia asks, coming into the room

Root suddenly pulled Harold off the wall and wrapped an arm around him, "Yes mother. Harold and I are just talking , weren't we Harry?" She turns to him

Harold is still kind of shocked but agrees, "Y-yes. We were."

Alicia raises her eyebrows. Root then turns to Harold and grabs his cheeks with her thumb and index finger and gently shakes it. Alicia shakes her head and exits the room. Harold pushed Root off of him, massaging his cheek. Without hesitation, he went upstairs

 **Transition**

"Okay, so we are going to present Demonstration speeches next!" Johns speech teacher says. "Okay, you will be working in pairs for this. But I will let you pick your partners." Everyone in the class cheers "Out of the hat." The teacher finishes. Everyone groans

"Lets seee, John! Come pick a name." John gets up and goes over to his teacher and pulls a name. He unraveled the paper and read...

"Zoe?" John says looking around the classroom. A girl raises her hand. She was a tall looking brunette. 'Could be worse.' John thought to himself

"Okay, So John and Zoe will be working together." The teacher says.

After the rest of the students picked their groups, the teacher allowed them the rest of class to discuss what they were going to teach everyone else something.

"So..." Zoe starts "What are you good at?" She looks at John

John put his right leg over his left and leaned back with his hands behind his head and sighed, "I can shoot all different types of guns." He said hoping to impress her a bit

"Me too. But let's do something we can actually present to the class."

John looked at her weirdly, "I can't do anything else. Nothing special that is."

Zoey scoffed in disbelief, "Come on, what makes you tick?"

John was getting tired of this game, "Do you know how to...I don't know."

"Fence? Like the sport" Zoe suggests

John sighed in defeat, "Fine. That's fine."

Zoe nodded and closed her book, "Good, so I'll come to your house at 3 to work on this."

"Uh yeah..sure."

The bell rang

"See you later, John." Zoe said

"Bye."

John sat there for a few minutes, 'She's different' he thought'. Nonetheless, he got up and headed for the cafeteria. Once he got the front he looked for Lionel or Finch. He looked for a couple more seconds before he gasped and hid behind a pillar. 'Was that…??' he thought to himself. He peered his head around the pillar and saw someone he thought his eyes deceived. His eyes went wide once again. It was Mark Snow. And he was talking to... Carter? 'Out of everyone in this whole dang school' he sighed to himself. He was lucky that Snow had his back toward him because he quickly got Carter's attention. Snow noticed something was up and turned around. John went back behind the pillar. He peered out again and brought his hand to his neck signaling her 'NO! GET AWAY!'

"Hey wonderboy!" Someone behind him yells

John quickly grabbed his neck and shoved him to a wall. He was shocked to know it was Lionel. He quickly lets go, "Sorry, Lionel."

Lionel rubbed his neck, "Yeah, tell that to my broken trachea!" he rasps

John ignored him, "Look, that guy Carters talking to, stay away from him."

Lionel was skeptical, "Why? If Carter is talking to him, why can't I"

"I got here a bit too late. By that time he was talking to her. But look, if he asks about me, deny it. I don't want him to know I'm in any way related to you, or Carter, or Finch...Finch." John repeats as he looks for Harold. He is happy to see him and his friends just chatting away.

"Why, do you owe him money or something?"

John suddenly got more serious, "No, Lionel. But I know he'll do whatever he can to force my hand. You do not know him like I do."

"How do ya know him?"

John looked at Carter, "I went to school with him. And I was his friend"

Lionel was astonished, "Really? Like besties?"

"Lionel please get serious." John suddenly got mad at him, "But I don't understand where Kara is. I don't see her."

"Who's Kara?"

"Marks old partner in crime. Also an old friend." John sees Mark get up to leave and uses that as his cue to go grab Carter real quick.

"Hey!" Carter mumbles with a bite of sandwich sticking out of her mouth as she was dragged outside the cafeteria.

"What did he want?" John asks quickly

"What?!"

"What. Did. He. Want?" John repeated

"The guy I was talking too?" Carter played dumb

"Yes. Now tell me, come on!" John yells

Carter backs up, "Easy John, he's new. We are doing a winter project together. We were talking about meeting up to do it."

"When and Where?"

Carter looked at Fusco who just shrugged, "5:30, our house. What's the deal?"

"The deal is, I don't want him near you or you or anyone else in the family. If he asks if I know you, deny it. That goes for everyone. I don't trust him."

Carter slapped her hands and pointed at John, "But Why?"

"Cause I know him Carter, and I know what he's capable of. He's done some terrible things to me. That's all I'm going to say."

"Well better think fast wonderboy, here he comes." Fusco says as Mark approaches them

"Crap" John says as he pushes through Fusco to hide on the other side of the pillar

"Joss, what're you doing out here?" Mark asks

John grinds his teeth, 'God does he hate that voice'

"Just talking to my pal about something." Joss said to Fusco

Mark smiled, "Hi, I'm Mark." he says as he holds his hand out

Lionel takes his hand, "Lionel, nice to meet you."

"You too. Anyway I'm heading out early for English, see you later tonight Joss."

Carter says goodbye, "Bye Mark."

They watch Mark walk away. 'Seems nice enough' Lionel thinks, bue he calls out to John, "Hey, he's gone wonderboy."...no response "Wonderboy?" Lionel calls. Him and Joss look on the other side of the pillar and see John isn't there. They look at each other in astonishment.

John is walking down the hall toward Zoe's class. He managed to get past Mark without him knowing. He marched to Zoes class and walked in and saw the kids taking a test

"Can I help you?" The teacher asks

"Uh yeah. Can I talk to Zoe for a moment?"

"She's taking a test." The teacher told John

"It'll take a minute."

The teacher looks at Zoe who nods her head, "Okay, be quick."

"Yes Ma'am." John says as he leaves with Zoe

"Is this important John?"

John ignored her, he's been doing that a lot lately, "Is there any way I can come to your house today instead of you coming to mine?"

Zoe shook her head, "No, my parents won't be home."

John cursed internally, "Fine, than do you just want to stay here and work on it?"

Zoe laughed, "Is this a joke? What's wrong with you?"

John waved a dismissive hand, "Nothing, I'll see you at 3 in the cafeteria." He said as he walked away. Leaving Zoe very confused

 **Transition**

After school, John went into the cafeteria. He looked around the room frantically for Zoe, in hope that she'd show.

"Are you John?" Some short girl asks

"Yes. Why?"

She gives him a letter labeled 'John'. She walks away

'Strange people.' John thinks to himself. He opened the letter.

'I don't have time to play games John. I'll see you at 5. -Zoe'

John crumpled the paper threw it in the trash, swore about 10 times, punched the wall, and ran to his house. He knows everyone has questions. He hopes he won't have to answer.

As John walked into his house, he was met with his two parents and Iris on the couch.

"John, please come and sit." Alicia says

He shuts the door slowly and looks around, "What's going on?" he asks

"Just sit. John." Greer suddenly snapped

Not testing Greer, John quickly sat down. There was some silence and some finger tapping going on to fill that silence.

"So...what's this about?" John asked

It was Iris who answered, "John, how is everything?"

John looked baffled, "What do you mean? Good, I guess."

"John, we know about Mark going to school with you." Greer cut in

John scoffed, quite loudly. "Oh so that's what this is about! Guys, everything is fine. I'm not some psycho looking for fights."

Iris stood up, "John. Mark has been going through troubles. Him and Kara were expelled…"

'It took them this long to finally do it.' John thought

"Look, Harold and Carter heard Mark in the hallway say some things."

John raised an eyebrow, "What kind of things?"

Iris sighed, "Apparently, Mark asked around. People told Mark that John Reese, an old friend, attends this school. He wants you to 'come home'. Do you know anything about that?"

'It's time to come home John.' Marks words repeated in his head 'How do you think people would treat you after I tell them some of the things you did?'

John shook his head, "No. No I don't."

Iris put a hand in his shoulder, "John, it's ok. I want you to be able to talk to me and your parents. Just...put your head up high. We are just worried he might try to do something."

John gets up, "Yeah well, I can take care of myself. Don't worry. I'm not, entirely, a monster." he says as he walks away

John goes up to his room, plops on his bunk, puts earbuds in, and draw out life. Carter knocked at his door.

"How you doing, John?" Carter smiles

"Fine Joss, you?" John replies

She nods, "Good. So uh listen." John looks back at her, "I know you don't really want me to associate with Mark. Though I am going to do it anyway. I asked if we can do the project at his house. I just wanted to let you know that."

John smiles again, "Thank you Joss. I do appreciate it. I know Mark has an idea I go there. I'll eventually tell him I don't want anything to do with him."

Carter decided to dig, "What did you do with him John?"

John sighs and closes his eyes, "I was young, and lost. I made many bad choices. Some of which will haunt me forever. Please just leave it at that."

Carter was disappointed but nodded, "Okay. If you need anything, let me know. And John, thanks. For being there when I needed you."

"What are siblings for?"

Carter and laughed and excused herself from the room. She has to meet Mark. His phone vibrated, 'From Zoe' it read

'Hey John, just so you know. The teacher got sick and we are excused from the project for the time being. So I won't be coming at 5."

John sighed, here's his chance. 'Ok. And Zoe. Would you be interested in coming to the homecoming dance with me?"

John was waiting, impatiently. The phone buzzed again

'I don't like dances. I know you don't either.'

'But I like you. So what do you say?'

John doesn't like dances. But he wanted to have some fun with this girl. Plus, he has wanted to get a new slate. A dance was a start. That doesn't mean he will join the boy scouts next.

'Fine. Pick me up at 6.'

'It's a date.'

With that the conversation ended. John sighed. He felt like a burden has been lifted. He knew all of his siblings were going to go. Finch was going with his buddies, Lionel was going for food, Carter just likes dances, and it would be Root and Shaw's first homecoming in High School.

 **Transition**

Carter was at Marks house. There were boxes indicating that he had recently moved in. She walked in and saw that Mark was just sitting there. No books or anything.

Carter laughs, "What's going on Mark?"

Mark just smiles, "Teacher is sick. Project excused. I know John lives with you."

Carter's eyes went wide, "Wow. That is a way to start up a conversation.'' she says as she sits on the couch

"How has John been? Is he nice, insane, what?"

Carter was actually getting mad, "Why do you care so much?! He is a person just like you and I. He admits to mistakes but he's human! Treat him as such!"

"What did he admit he did?" Mark says completely ignoring everything she said

Carter gets up, "Goodnight Mark." She walks out ignoring the protests of Mark begging her to come back.

 **Transition**

Homecoming was here. Everyone showed up in their dresses, suits, dress shirts, a little of everything. John walked in with Zoe

"Wow…" Zoe says

"What? What is it?" John asks

Zoe looks around the gymnasium, "This is so cheesy!"

John laughs and grabs her hand, "Look, we are here to have a good time. We paid $20 to be here. We might as well enjoy it."

The dance was more fun than John could've anticipated. Him and Zoe were having a ball. Dancing, eating, sitting, talking. He can't recall when he had this much fun.About an hour in, Zoe excused herself to use the ladies room. John decided to take this moment to check upon his friends. He see's Finch on the bleecher, with a computer. He walks over to Finch, "Shouldn't you be dancing?" John asks

Harold looks up, "Like you are the poster kid for how to have fun at dances?"

John shrugs, "You learn as you go."

Harold shook his head and continued typing

Carter comes over, "Hey John! How is your first 'suburban type' high school Homecoming?"

"I like it. Much different than my old school. Guess what? I didn't bring my knife." John said proudly

"John, that is a huge step." Finch jumped in

"I know."

Carter looks nexto to John and then back up at him, "Where is Zoe?"

He pointed toward the exit, "Bathroom. It has been awhile. I'm going to look for her."

Carter nodded her head, "Okay. I'm gonna dance."

John walked out to the mingle area to see if he could spot Zoe. when he couldn't he decide to get some air. It was hot. He walks out of the school in the back alley. He wipes of his sweat with his handkerchief and looks off to the night sky. So peaceful, so…

He was snapped out of his thoughts as he heard footsteps. He turned to spot Mark approaching him.

Mark smiles, "John."

John stared right back at him, "Mark. What are you doing here?"

Mark didn't respond as he saw some guy come out of the shadow, restraining Zoe. John didn't recognize the man holding her. John went closer to Mark.

"Why harm her. You are such a loser you know that? You can't find me and talk to me like a man would, so instead you go and basically kidnap a friend."

Mark cracks up, "John, I didn't do this to harm her. However I did come to talk."

John looks right into John's eyes

"It's time to come home John."

John remained serious, "You know that'll never happen."

Mark nods, but suddenly pulls out a knife and starts to fight John. John sensed his movement as easily dodged it. Mark had a couple of more friends able to come of the shadows to try to grab John. John was easily able to fight them all. But when he was distracted, Mark walked up to John and as he turned around, Mark pulled out his knife and stabbed John in the stomach. Zoe yelled as all of the guys fighting John ran away, Mark jabbed to knife deeper into John, John yelled in pain as he took his fist and hit Mark as hard as he could. Mark stumbled back in pain but he was able to get away. John collapsed on his back with the knife sticking out of him in a 90 degree angle. Zoe ran inside and called Carter and all of John's siblings, "Hurry! Come out! John was stabbed!"

She ran outside and called 911. She tried to control John's bleeding as best she could. She can see John was about to pass out

"Please John, don't leave me…"

Johns eyes closed.

There was nothing but darkness afterwards

 **TBC**.

 **MY POOR REESE. That's all I have to say….Break is coming up so I hope to do more (for both stories)**


	6. Chapter 6: Aftermath of Homecoming

Summary: Harold sees something he can never forget; what happened after the dance?

 **WARNING** : Suicide is mentioned … and done

After the 911 call Zoe made, the school was soon flooded with ambulances and law enforcement collecting statements. Everyone inside of the school had to evacuate. The EMTs cleared the way in order to get to John. After John closed his eyes, Zoe lost it. She refused to move from John side. The EMTs assured Zoe that if she had their cooperation, he'd be fine. The EMTs got John into the ambulance and rushed to the hospital. Harold called their parents and they rushed to the school to pick up their kids and Zoe to take them to the hospital.

Once at the hospital, all kids were being questioned by law enforcement and their parents. Zoe basically told them that a couple of guys lured her out of the school and said that John needed help. She didn't know the names of the guys who lured her out, but she told the law enforcement that it was Mark Snow who fought and stabbed John. The rest of the kids basically said the same thing; they were at the dance and suddenly Zoe came in and yelled that John got stabbed. The law enforcement went to Mark Snows house. They said they needed to speak to Mark about a stabbing. His parents said he hasn't been home since he left for the dance. The police assured John Greer and Alicia Corwin that they will get Mark. All they thought about was if their son was ok. Even Iris made an appearance at the hospital, she had the feeling that something was wrong

After a few minutes, a doctor walked out, "Mr. Greer and Ms. Corwin?"

Them and the kids stood up, "That's us." John says

"How's John?" Alicia asks in concern

The doctor smiled, "He is a very lucky lad. The knife inserted him was thiiis close to his abdomen." he said bringing his thumb and index finger about one centimeter apart, "but he will be okay, in time."

Everyone sighed in relief. Alicia held her hand on her chest as she said, "Thank you doctor, is there any chance we can see him?"

He nodded, "Yes you can. Just immediate family for right now."

Greer and Alicia nodded their heads as they followed the doctor into the hospital room where they were keeping John.

Shaw suddenly got a look in her eye, "If I ever see Snow again, I'll kill him."

Iris intervened, "Now now, we shouldn't solve this with violence."

Root jumped in, "Yes Sameen, you shouldn't kill Mark. We should let John do it."

Iris gave her a disapproving look, "Not that either. I think if we do go through with this. It will hurt all of you."

Shaw and Root nodded. Harold looks like he is about to burst, "Excuse me." He says as he quickly exits the waiting room. Harold wipes away some tears as he walks into the boys bathroom. He stops in his tracks when he sees a boy standing there….Mark. Mark had a gun on him. Harolds eyes went wide as he noticed the gun

Mark looks like he's been crying as well, "Don't move an inch Harold Finch."

Harold puts his hands up, "Mark, if you pull that trigger, it will stay with you...forever. Please you stabbed my brother! You really want to hurt more people?"

Mark gives one last small smile, "Just tell John, she won't stop till the end. And tell John, I'm sorry." he said with the gun is still on Harold

Harold rises an eyebrow, "What do you me-?" Harold was cut off as Mark suddenly switches the gun on himself as he pulls the trigger. Harold just turns away as he holds a hand to his mouth as he falls to the ground in shock.

As the kids and Iris were waiting to hear about John, they heard a gunshot. Everyone panicked and started screaming. All of the people in the waiting room were forced by doctors into a safe room. Root looked around, "Guys, Harold isn't back yet…" everyone started to panic. Joss went up to a receptionist, "Excuse me, my brother went to the bathroom and hasn't returned yet.."

The receptionist had too much on her mind at the moment, "Some other people probably have him. I'm sure he is fine."

Joss was less convinced. Suddenly a walkie talkie went off in a doctors pocket

'Shooter was identified by law enforcement, one witness identified, one dead and one in shock. Hospital is no longer in lockdown'

The receptionist looked back at Joss, "One of them might be your brother."

Joss got angry, "Would ya stop being so insensitive!?"

The receptionist backed off. Everyone went back into the waiting area. Root turned to Lionel, "Look, I'll come. But can we go to the bathroom to find Harold?"

Lionel nodded, "Yeah lets go." Him and root got up and went to the closest bathroom to see if they find Harold. Once they reach the hallway, they see caution tape and more law enforcement. Root and Lionel looked at each other in horror. They get closer as they see a body covered with a bag. Root suddenly starts to cry. Lionel hugs her trying a reassure her it might not be him. A cop sees them crying, "Hey, you two shouldn't be here."

Root is too emotional to speak so Lionel does, "Our brother came here to use the restroom. We got separated after the gunshot."

The cop sighed and closed his eyes, "What does your brother look like." he feared heir brother might be the one under the blanket

"He's got glasses, and brown hair. His hair sticks up, it ain't flat." Lionel describes

The cop sighed, "let me see who is under there." The cop walks over and squats and lifts the bag. He looks at Lionel and Root again, "You said he had glasses?" The cops asks again. Lionel nods. The cop looks down at the body again, "I don't think this is your brother."

Lionel looks up in hope, "Can we see?"

The cop shakes his head, "No, I can't allow you to do that. But..I know there is another kid being held somewhere. I can see if you can see him."

Lionel nods his head in thanks, "That would be fine, thank you." Root is still sobbing, "He didn't you hear him?" Lionel asks, "That might not be glasses."

Root looks at Lionel, her eyes bloody red, "Never say never, Fusco."

The cop comes back and said they can see who was being help. The cop lead them into a room where they saw a boy and a cop talking about what happened. It was Harold at the table. He looked so...sad, lost, numb. His eyes said it all.

Lionel turned to the cop, "That's him...Thank you so much. But what happened?"

"In the restroom, your brother witnessed another kid commit suicide. There are cameras outside and inside the bathroom, not in the stalls." He adds "Just to see who comes in out."

Lionel looked at the cop in shock, "Suicide?"

He nods, "Yup. I think I heard someone said it was the kid who stabbed your other brother."

Lionel and root looked at each other in astonishment….It was Mark.

John was cleared from the hospital a few days later. He was put on strict bed rest though. John was getting really irritated of not being able to move. As John was improving, Harold was feeling worse. Harold has never seen anyone die like that before his eyes. His parents suggested therapy but it never worked. He'd never say anything. His parents even checked to see if he had some sort of PTSD but they said he was fine. He just needed time. And that's exactly what they gave him, never meant he was ever alone though. Luckily, everyone in the family saw Finch during some time of the day. They were all able to make sure he was ok.

John returned to school a week later. He never thought he'd be happy about going to school, but he was as happy as a bee right now. 'Weirds comparison' he thought. John heard all about the Mark incident. Though he was, somewhat, happy that Mark was no longer an issue, he worried about Finch. Nathan and Arthur asked Finch to hang out but Harold would reject them. Harold would often give a few hints of how he was but he never elaborated.

John even returned to basketball. He never overexerted himself but he'd try the best he could. Once he got home, he went upstairs to his room and saw Harold sitting by the window looking outside.

"Hey Finch." John greeted

Harold did not move a muscle, "Hi John."

"How was your day?" He tried to make small talk

Finch turned his head and looked at John, he didn't say anything. He turned back to the window.

John sighed, "Harold, it's been a week. Can you talk to me?"

Harold shook his head, "John, there is nothing to talk about-"

"Your eyes and mood say otherwise." he retorted

Harold looked like a mess. His eyes were bloodshot, indicating he was crying. And his withdrawn mood said a whole lot.

Harold sighed, "I watched someone take their life. I couldn't do anything."

"Look, it's not like he had the gun to him the whole time. He quickly did it. You never knew he was going to kill himself. You thought he was going to kill you."

Harold sighed, very loudly. "I don't want to talk about this anymore."

'I can't lose him now' John thought. "I've witnessed Mark kill others," He reluctantly opened up

Harold snapped his head, "Mark…..killed?" He asked as his voice cracked

John nodded, "I was never a friend of Mark, just an accessory. Mark was sick."

Harold looked baffled, "Oh my god John….I am so sorry."

John waved a dismissive hand, "It's all in the past. Just like this. It will take time, but I'm here Harold.. Whether you like it or not. And I'll admit, Mark did ruin the first dance I was having fun at for the first time in awhile. But it was just him. You can't stop your life because of one event" He says laying a hand on Harolds shoulder

Harold smiled, "Thanks, John."

TBC

Hey guys. So this is more of an aftermath of Ch. 5. I left it on a cliff hanger and I wanted to have some sort of conclusion of it and start new with Chapter 7. Just like chapter 3, it is more of a drabble then a story. Chapter 7 will be longer, I promise. I kinda wanted something to happen with Harold and Mark since I don't recall them meeting the the series so here that is. It's short but….no so sweet.


	7. Chapter 7: What It Means To Be A Family

**Summary: Harold adjusts after his frightening experience; Harold, Nathan, and Arthur learn a truth about the Machine; John learns how much he is willing to do in order to protect the ones he loves.**

 **Transition**

Friends and family have gathered to say goodbye to Mark Snow. Mark's parents have even asked John and Harold to come. Even thought Harold never knew him like John did, the parents wanted to apologise that he had to witness that. John, at first, was hesitant, but Harold wanted to pay his respects to Marks family. Marks parents asked John, since he was once friends with him, to say some words. John said no. If he had anything to say, it wouldn't be pleasant.

After the funeral, John and Harold stopped for some coffee. Sencha Ggeen tea for Harold, of course.

John held his cup, "Does that bring closure Harold?"

Harold slowly nods, "Yes. But his poor parents…"

"I know. How can such sweet people like his parents have someTHING, like Mark?" John asks

"I don't know." Harold shrugged "That's the problem with children."

John looked confused

"You never know how their going to turn out." Harold finished

 **Transition**

John and Harold walked through the door. They were met with Alicia and John Greer sitting there.

"How was it?" Alicia asks anxiously

"It was nice." John says simply. Harold agreed

Harolds phone vibrated, "Shoot, I have to meet with Harold and Arthur. I'll be back at 5." He says as he walked out

"John, how was he at the ceremony?" Alicia asks

"He seemed okay. Very sympathetic for his parents."

They both nodded as John excused himself.

 **Transition**

Harold had received a panicked text from Nathan, basically sending his an SOS. He ran, or limped-ran, to Nathan's house. He knocked on the door, only to have it opened quickly and something grab his tie and yank him inside. The garage was covered with smoke.

"What is going on in here?!" Harold yells

"Harold, did you tell the machine that Arthur and I are 'bad code'?" Nathan says angrily

Harold was baffled, "Of course not Nathan! What happened?" Harold walks over to the computer

Arthur spoke up, "That thing tried to kill us!" he yelled

"What?" Harold said in disbelief as he tried to get in

Nathan was out of breathe, "Yeah, it tried to suck the oxygen out of the room! And when we tried to turn it off, it set itself on fire!! But now it's destroyed. It burned itself"

Harold winced, "Well I don't think the machine tried to kill itself. I think it was a warning."

Nathan and Arthur looked at each other, "What do you mean?"

Harold turned the machine back on, "It's still functional." Nathan and Arthur looked in shock as they saw all the moving squares and people on the screen

"How is that possible?" Nathan asks as he angrily went to the hard drives "Its codes and everything is in here! Burned. Fried. Damaged beyond repair!!!"

Harold sighed, "I don't know. The machine seems to know what it's doing." But then he started typing, "But I want to know why it indicated you two as a threat and not me."

"Yeah. Me too." Nathan said simply

Arthur spoke up again, "You know, the machine is a lame name." he said as he got up "How about….Samaritan?"

Harold looked at him, "Samaritan?"

Arthur nodded, "Yeah, it means helper, contributor. That's what it's doing isn't it?"

Harold turned around again, "You want it to be an open system don't you?"

Nathan looked up as well.

"Harold.." Arthur started, "We can make something life changing here. I know you want to set limitations-"

"With good reason." Harold cut him off, "If we make the machine an open system, that means it'll have a mind of its own. There would be nothing we can do if it becomes disastrous-"

Arthur cut Harold off, "We can program it to be good Harold! Isn't that why we are here?"

"If it is open, it can change its code, its values. Did you forget that you almost died 10 minutes ago. I did some digging.." Harold said as he popped up the machines core codes, "See this code." Arthur nodded "I didn't put it in." Arthur looked at Harold

Nathan walked over, "Are you saying the machine put that code in it?"

Harold nodded, "Yes." He looked at Arthur, "Because it was an open system."

Nathan looked at Arthur with an accusing glare, "You made it open?" Nathan asked

Arthur nodded, "Yes, but I never thought it do this. I promise, I won't do it again."

Harold nodded and turned back to the computer typing

"What are you doing?" Nathan asked

"Closing the system." Harold responded as he finished, "It's done." he said

 **Transition**

John sighed as he sat down with Lionel at lunch

"Classes buggin' ya?" Lionel asks

"I didn't expect to have to do so much for each class." John says looking through his spanish binder

Lionel laughs, "Welcome aboard. This is a ship we call life-"

As Lionel got out that last syllable, John threw a crumpled up paper at him. Lionel snickered as John gave him an irritated look. John looked over towards Harolds table. He promised his parents he'd check up on him. He seems withdrawn still. He wonders if it has to do with Mark, or perhaps there is something happening with him and his friends, though everything did seem relatively normal. Then some guy and girl walked over to his table, one a girl with a bun in her hair, and the guy has curly hair, sort of like Lionel. They shove 2-3 binders in front of Harold. John watches as some dialogue is exchanged between them, but then Harold gets angry and gets up and yells at the two people. He continues to gesture toward the binders and gives them accusing fingers. John can't hear a word between them but he is sure about to intervene. He wants to see how this might come out first. Harold picks up the binders and throws them on the ground. The guy begins to walk towards Harold. Nathan then gets up and grabs the back of his shirt to get him off of Harold, but the guy turns around and punches Nathan. Arthur even gets up to Nathans aid as they guy turns to Harold and rams him into a wall. John gets up and runs over to Harold. Lionel see where John is going and runs over as well. The guy turns around to see John coming, so Harold takes this chance to fight back the hands on him. He takes the guys left hand and bites it. The guy holding Harold yells in pain and is about to punch Harold. Harold prepares for the punch but he feels the guy yanked off of him and he sees John who threw him to the ground and started punching him. Lionel went to help Nathan with Arthur. The girl is about to hit John over the head with a binder. Harold runs over and pushes her away as he attempts to get John off Hersh, who John did not know.

"John! Come on! Get off!" Harold says as he tries to pry John off of Hersh

Lionel comes over to help once he got Nathan situated, "Hey Wonderboy! He's had enough! Lay off!" Lionel and Harold eventually got him. The girl, who the school calls Control because she is very...controlling, helps Hersh sit up. Soon, three teachers run over

"All of you...come with us. Now!" one yell

John, Harold, Lionel, Nathan, Arthur, Control, and Hersh all found themselves in the principal's office.

"So...Harold we will start with you. What happened?" the principal asks

Harold sighs, "Well, I was sitting with my friends and then Hersh and Diana (Control) came over and demanded that I do their homework, like middle school. I denied. You know the rest."

The principal turned to Hersh and Control, "Did you two try to force Harold to do your homework?"

The look at eachother, and reluctantly nodded slowly. But then Hersh turned to John

"What I don't understand, is how this dope got involved...He just came over and started punching me!" Hersh yelled referring to John

The principle then turned to Lionel and John, "Yes I want to know how you two did get involved." Then he turned to Nathan and Arthur, "What happened to you?" the principal asked Nathan

Nathan pointed to Hersh who suddenly got defensive

"Hey! He grabbed me!" Hersh said

"You got a bit too close to Harold." Nathan said "I didn't want to wait to see what would happen."

Hersh scoffed.

"What about you, John? Lionel? How to you come into all of this?" The principal asks

"Like Nathan said, I didn't like it when he got close to Harold. But when he punched Nathan and rammed into Harold, I intervened. Isn't that what you want us to be. Interfering? Lionel just helped Nathan after he was punched." John said. Lionel nodded

"John, in your record, it says you have been in 15 fights during 4th grade to 9th grade…"

Harolds eyes went wide as the principal said that

"Mind telling me how those were any of your concern." The principal continued

John licked his lips, "Well...Someone had to keep the bullies in line."

Lionel smiled and shook his head.

As the principal was about to say something there was a knock at the door. It was all the parents. Looking disappointed. The principle talked to all the parents. Nathan was lucky he wasn't suspended, he got excused to class. Arthur Control, and Lionel as well. Hersh was suspended to a week. That left John and Harold.

"I really wish you didn't do that on my account." Harold whispered

John looked at him, "Well I don't like it when someone messes with you. What are brothers for?"

Harold smiled for the first time in awhile, but it suddenly altered when their parents and the principal walked out.

"Harold, we realize you had some troubles lately.." The principal started. "We are sending you home but just for the day. We think you need a break from this. You aren't punished in any way."

Harold immediately objected, "No, I do not think that is necessary." Harold said as he got up, he gave John a sympathetic look, as if he was apologizing. Harold walked off to go to class.

The principal and Alicia Corwin turned to him.

"Well John, where do I begin?" the principal asks him

John shrugs, "Just say it." he says sarcastically. He just wants to go.

"Well...You are suspended. In school" The principal began "For 3 days. So Basically the rest of the week. But only because it wasn't self defense-"

"I was defending Harold and Nathan." John interrupts

"Yes, but you had no part. What you should have done was to break it up and get a teacher. Not add to the violence. Do you understand? The principal asked

John nods, "Yes sir."

The principal gets up, "Good. Now get out of here. You can go home for the rest of the day. To cool off."

John nods and thanks the principal as he leaves with Alicia Corwin.

Alicia looks at John as they drive, "Look, I don't like what you did. But I am proud of you defendeding Harold."

John turns to Alicia, "Thank you. I didn't want Harold to get hurt."

"I know you didn't." Alicia starts, "But you are going to be punished for the throwing the first punch."

John actually smiles, "Fair enough."

When the walk into the house, Alicia told John, "Go up to your room. When your father gets home we'll discuss your punishment."

John nods and goes up to his room

 **Transition**

"John! Come on down." He hears Greers voice ring up the hall. He must've been home from work

John looks at Lionel who's giving him the 'Don't keep him waiting' look

"Wish me luck." John says as he gets up and goes downstairs

When John gets there he sees Alicia and Greer sitting on a couch with a chair in front of them

"Come sit, John." Greer says. John obeys

Alicia sighs and sits up, "John, we have talked. And like I said earlier, I am proud of your need to protect your siblings and others who can't necessarily defend themselves." John nods. "But it doesn't change the fact that you threw the first punch." Alicia finished. John nodded once more

"We decided that no TV for a week and extra chores would be a reasonable punishment. We would take your phone but in case you ever needed us, you could call us. We only expect you to use that thing to call us if you need it. Can we trust you?" Greer asks

John nods, "Yes sir."

Greer nods, "Okay. You may go. Get ready for dinner. DId you finish your chores from earlier?"

John nods, "Yes sir."

"Okay. You will receive your extra chores after school tomorrow."

"Okay." John said simply as he went back upstairs

 **Transition**

After dinner, John was in his room doing homework. He heard someone enter the room. Most likely Harold because of how quite he was.

"John?" Harold asked. 'Yup. Knew it' John thought

"Yes, Harold?" John replied still looking at his textbook

"I never thanked you for what you did today. I really appreciate it. And I apologise you had to get in trouble on my account."

John turned around, "Don't mention it. That's what brothers are for. And you saved my life too. The dance?"

Harold scoffed, "That was mostly Zoe."

John smirked, "Well, you are the one who helped control the bleeding until the EMT's arrived. For that, I'll be forever grateful."

Harold smiled, "Thanks, John."

John lightly punched his shoulder, "No problem."

 **Transition**

It was Friday afternoon, John is no longer suspended and he can go back to classes Monday. Not that he was excited about going back to classes, but it was better than sitting in the principal's office bored.

Harold walked in the house smiling, "John, I have some good news!"

John thought this would be lame, but he played along, "What is it Harold?"

Harold was still smiling, "Do you want to make some extra cash with me?"

John raised an eyebrow, "How?"

Harold turned the paper facing him, "Babysitting!"

John scrunched his face, "Babysitting?"

Harold looked at the paper than back to him, "Yeah babysitting, why?"

John shook his head, "Kids, especially babies, are too much."

Harold scoffed, "But isn't this one cute? Her name is Leila."

John shook his head, "Thanks, but no thanks, Harold." He said as he turned to leave

"Fine." Finch started, "But you won't get any of the 50 dollars I'll be making."

John turned around, "50?"

Harold shook his head, "Well the total is 50. If you came, we'd each get 25 dollars."

John waited for a moment, "She is cute. Sure, I'll do it with you."

Harold smiles, "Great! We go tomorrow at 5pm to their house. Her parents are going on a date night."

John smiles back, "Sounds good. I need a quick boot camp."

Harold laughed, "On what?"

John got serious, "On how to change a diaper."

 **Transition (Saturday, 5 o'clock)**

"Okay, our numbers are right here if you need us, our insurance company, and everything else you'll need. Thank you boys so much for watching her." Ms. Smith says

John nods.

"It's no problem at all Ms. Smith." Harold says, "I assure you everything will be just fine."

"Thanks again guys." Mr. Smith says as they walk out

John and Harold turn to see baby Leila on her back. Like a turtle stuck on his shell. Harold walks forward and turns her onto her arms and knees. She realizes her parents are gone and begins to wail. John takes a step back, but Harold jumps in and picks her up and cradles her.

"Shhhhh. It's okay sweetie. It's okay…" He keeps saying as he holds and gently bounces her, with no avail. John is still standing there

"Feel free to jump in anytime and help John." Harold says sarcastically

John walks over and takes the baby from Harold. Leila is still crying, she gets even louder when she sees Johns face

"It doesn't like me." John says, "Is she hungry?"

Harold shook his head, "No, Ms. Smith said they fed and changed her so later the only thing we do is put her to bed."

Leila is still wailing

"But...She's still crying." John says

"Well she is a baby, John. You cried when you were her age."

"I'm not saying I didn't. But I don't think I cried like that." John said gesturing to Leila, who was settling down and dozing off. "I guess the crying wore her out." John said

Harold nodded and went over to pick her up, "I'll take her to her crib." He whispered

John plopped on the couch. Boy were kids a bunch of work. Harold came back down. Since John was still technically grounded, the decided not to watch TV, that and also they didn't want to wake up Leila. The just played UNO and talked. It was a nice night. They parents came home, thanked the boys again, and paid them. She gave them 50 each. They both insisted that John and Harold took the money. After several attempts of giving one 50 back, they gave in and took the money. As they walked out, Harold put his 50 on the table next to the door.

When they got home, they were both tired and went to bed.

"Can you believe they paid us 50 each?" John said before he turned in

Harold turned off the light, "No. I do not."

"It was very generous of them."

"Yes it was."

 **TBC**.

 _So this one had more family fluff and less drama. I'm taking a break from that for today. Hope you enjoy! And yes, for once I brought in Leila!!!!! I JUST ADORED THAT EPISODE ;)_


	8. Chapter 8: Playing Detectives - Part 1

**Summary: John falls into some old hobbies; He also tried to solve the mystery of Marks suicide; Harold, Nathan, and Arthur consider the consequences if they finish the machine**

 **WARNING - SUICIDE IS MENTIONED!!!**

 ** _Transition_**

John was sitting on the seat of his bike with a little earpiece in his ear, listening to the police station. He checked the time, it was 6:30. He had to be home by 7. He sighs in irritation. As weird as it sounds, he wishes there was a crime somewhere near him. John was using some radio signal interception skill he picked up from Harold to be able to listen in to the police radio.

'All units, please respond to a burglary happening at the local pawn shop at 53rd and Washington' he heard over the radio.

'Thats 3 blocks away.' John thought. He checked his watch one more time

6:37

He was cutting it close, but he decided to move it. He pedaled as fast as he could. Reaching the pawn shop he got off his bike, tilted his head both sides cracking his neck. He just decided to play it cool. He walked in and everyman turn towards him. He looked back at the door and then back at them

"I'm sorry." He apologises, falsely, "Were you guys closed?"

The guys both looked at each other before Reese suddenly elbowed the guy in front of him and punched some others beside him and taking his gun before shooting each of the rest of their kneecaps before any of them could get a shot or hit on him.

'Thank god my father taught me how to shoot and fight.' John kept thinking

Once he shot the last guy, he heard sirens. The cops were close. He was surprised they weren't here yet. He's gotta stop cutting it close. He threw down the gun and ran out, hopping on his bike, taking off.

He checked his watch as he got close

6:54.

He was close to his house. He didn't need to worry at this point. He looked at his two bruised hands. Some of those guys were as hard as rocks, but not hard enough for the gun. He would shove them in his pockets when he went in. Most likely his parents would be waiting. Once he got on the yard, he got off his bike and put it in the back and walked in the house at 6:57. He walked in and saw Greer and Corwin sitting there. He casually put his hands in his pockets.

"Just in time." Greer comments

John nods, "Yes sir." he says as he goes upstairs. He takes off his jacket and goes in the restroom. He cleans his hand of the little blood before adding ointment to the bruises.

"Woah. What'd you do?" Shaw asks from the doorway

John turns around, realizing he forgot to lock the door. He was just lucky it wasn't Greer or Corwin.

John sighs, "Just an accident. Get out." He says as he gently shoves the 4'3 Shaw out of the bathroom.

"Dude, your knuckles are busted. That's no accident. That was a fight." Shaw says a bit loudly

"SHH." John hushed as he grabbed her and shoved her in the bathroom

John sighs and angrily runs a hand in his hair, "Fine." He starts, "It was, but don't you say a word." he hisses

Shaw crosses her arms, "Fine. But you have to let me in on your missions."

John scoffs, "No way. You'll get killed."

Shaw looks and him funny, "What are you doing with your spare time?"

John looks down, "You're not coming with me."

"GREER! CORWIN! GUESS WHAT JO-" Shaw yells before John covers her mouth with his hand

"OK!" He says, "You can...come but shut up. Deal!" he hisses. Shaw nods. He lets her go

"Shaw? What did you yell about?" Corwin said at the stairs

"Oh nothing. I was just about to tell you how excited I was for the weekend" Shaw says

"It's only Tuesday…" Corwin responds

"Exactly." She says

John had a horrible feeling about this

 **Transition**

John walked to his locker and opened it. A note fell out. He opened the note

'Monster.' it read

John squints and looks around. No one was watching him. He just tore it up and grabbed his books and continued to class.

Once he got to his health class. He opened his notebook, there was another note. He opened this one as well.

'What made you become the monster you are?'

John tore that one up as well. This is one sick joke someone is playing. Carter walked into the classroom and notices John angry expression

"What's going on John?" She asks

He looks around, "If I tell you, will you swear not to tell anyone?"

Carter nids, "What is it?" she asks in concern

He picked up the note that had the message. Some was torn, but readable

Carter read it, "Who sent this?"

John looks up at her, "Do you think I know?"

Carter sighs. The writing is familiar.

Her eyes went wide, 'No, it couldn't be…' she thought

"What's wrong, Carter?" John asks

"Can I keep this?" She asks, completely ignoring John

He nods, "Uh sure I guess, why?"

She shoves the note in her pocket, "I just want to keep it. Do you mind?" She asks

John shakes his head, but raises a finger, "Don't tell anyone. If you do, I'll never trust you again. This is my battle."

She nods, "I promise."

He nods. Then the teacher comes in and they get to work.

 **Transition**

Carter is waiting outside of the school. She is waiting for her two buds. Bill Szymanski and Nick Donnelly. She looked at the note, it was Donnellys handwriting. She hoped she was wrong.

"Hey Carter!"

She turns to see Donnelly and Szymanski walking toward her.

"What's going on Carter? Something bothering you?" Donnelly asks

She decided to go for it, as they start walking, "Do you have a problem with John?"

Donnelly looks toward her, "Your brother? Um I think he's odd as all." he says in a deep, monotone voice.

Carter looks up and pulls the note out of her pocket, she shows it to him.

"I could've sworn that was YOUR handwriting…" Carters says

Donnelly just looks at the note, "I don't know what that is." He says too quickly and continues to walk

"Oh my god. It was you who left it! You jerk! What has he done to you?" Carter yells and runs up to him

Donnelly turns around and bellows, "OKAY! I think that guy has some sort of other life and we know less than what he is letting on! I'm worried about you!"

Carter got in his face, "I don't need your help, Donnelly! He is a good man!"

Donnelly laughs, "Good? God Carter, you always see the good in people when the bad in them is right in front of you!"

"Hey at least he faces in problems instead of leaving nasty notes in his locker." She spits out

Szymanski looks to Donnelly to see what he'll do

Donnelly turns around, "Hey I was trying to help. But if you don't want it. I'll see you at your funeral. I thought you were able to see other people like I do. I guess I was wrong."

"And thank god for that." She hisses

Donnelly gets mad at her and walks toward her. He was getting too close to her. Before he could do anything, John came around the corner.

"Whats going on here?" John asks politely

Donnelly looks at him, "What do you want?" he hisses

John raises an eyebrow, "I came to just to tell Carter that Greer and Corwin wanted us to come home now."

Carter looked like she didn't believe him, but John quickly rose his eyebrows again. She decided to go with him.

John gently grabbed her arm and turned their backs on Nick and Bill.

"Will you let go of me John?" She says struggling in his grasp

"No." Was all he said, "Not until you tell me why you showed Donnelly and Szymanski the note."

"Donnelly is the one who wrote it." Joss confesses

They both stop and John looks at her

She just nods her head, "Yup, he thinks you are some kind of crook."

He raises his eyebrows, again, "I get that a lot."

"But why though?" Carter asks, "Why can't people believe your good?"

"Who said I was bad?" John asks, "Maybe I just made a few mistakes."

He lets go of her and walks into their house.

"Joss, I thought you were out with Nicholas and Bill." Corwin commented

She nodded, "Yeah we all got a lot of homework." She looks at John who just looks back, "Which is what I'll go do now." She says as she went upstairs

 **Transition**

Harold was panicking. He was losing oxygen. He found an old hammer under a desk. He took it and whacked the hardrives of the machine. Once he completely wrecked them, He falls to the ground sucking in air

Nathan runs in, "What on earth happened?" He asks as he helps Harold up

Harold walked over to the machine and turned it back on.

"Well." He starts, "the machine decided that I was bade code, for putting it into a simulation with another form, given real data. It figured what I was doing, wanted to be free, I refused, and it tried to suck all the oxygen out of the room."

Nathan looks shock, "It tried to kill you?"

Harold nods, "Just like it tried to kill you a week ago!"

"It never did learn good from evil." Nathan inquires

Harold waves a dismissive hand, "Oh good and evil, those are human terms."

Nathan looks at the program, "I thought you closed it, didn't change its code."

"I did and it is." Harold started, "It doesn't have the right values yet. The right moral compass."

Nathan looks at him, "Just thinking...How long do you think it'll take to finish it."

Harold thinks for a moment, "I'd say maybe after or our senior year of college."

Nathan looks at Harold, "Harold we are about to go in our senior year of high school." he starts, "Where are we going together huh?"

Harold smiles and goes to an envelope on a desk, "Well, I was going to wait...but." Harold says leading more suspense

Nathan smiles, "Harold, what is it?"

Harold sighs before saying, "A full ride at M.I.T."

Nathan screams and hugs him, "Harold that's amazing! Do your parent know?"

Harold shakes his head, "No, I was going to tell them tonight."

Nathan puts a hand on his shoulder, "Good for you man."

"Thanks, Nathan."

 **Transition**

John and Shaw were both sitting on their bikes. John had promised Shaw he'd take her on his next mission in order to keep her mouth shut. He listens waiting for a call, it was a slow night.

"How are you getting feeds?" Shaw asks

John sighs, "I let you come. When I get something. I'll tell you."

Shaw suddenly smiles, "Well then I guess I'll tell Mom and Dad what you've been doing."

John looks back towards her, "If you do, you'll never learn what it is I am doing and it would mean no more missions. For BOTH of us." He emphasized

Shaw gives in, "Fine." She pouts

A gunshot goes off. John and Shaw look ahead. He listens to the station to see if there is anything, disappointed to find nothing.

"I guess we are on our own." John says as he puts the brake up, "Follow me." He commands Shaw. They both ride into the dark

They slow down looking for anything suspicious. Another gunshot goes off. It was close so it was loud. John gets off his bike and covers Shaw. Suddenly a guy came out of an alley with a gun in his hand. The guy sees John covering his sister, he points the gun at John who just shields her even more. The guy heard sirens and saw John in fear, not for him but for his sister. He takes the gun off of him and runs. Seeing he is gone John slowly gets up and turns to Shaw, "Are you ok?" He asks'

She rubs her back, "Man what have you eaten? You weigh a ton." She says

John rolls his eyes as the sirens get closer, "Let's get going." He says as they both get on their bikes and ride away.

It was Friday and they had both asked Greer and Corwin if they could stay out late, they both said it was ok but to be home by 11. It was 8:48 now so they had a couple hours to kill. They both went to the park and sat on a bench.

"Are you ok?" John asks Shaw fo what must've been the 23rd time

Shaw rolls her eyes, "No John, I feel worse than I did the last 10 times you asked!"

"Well, sorry I cared. I can assure you, it won't be the last time."

Shaw groans while he smiles. They both got a late night hotdog and decided to kill the time they had. Having enough activity for one night.

Shaw takes a monster bite out of the hotdog, "So, what was the whole Mark Snow thing?"

John sighs and blinks a little bit, "Shaw, you are one year younger than me. I feel like your 10 years younger." Shaw looks at him before he continues, "Mark...Used to be my friend. And Kara too."

"Whose Kara?" Shaw asks

"An old friend." John repeated, "They both betrayed me. But as far as Mark goes, why he did kill himself is unknown. Other than being a jerk, he had no motive too. As far as I know." His mind was remembered of when Harold told him that SHE won't stop. She? Kara?

Shaw bites her hotdog, "Does Kara have a last name of S?"

John looks down panicked, "Yeah, why?"

Shaw turns to him, "Well I heard there was a girl coming from a private school. Says she was a former friend of Mark Snow."

John looks into the distances and breathes in hard. Was she really coming? Did Mark kill himself because of Kara? He had to get to the bottom of this.

John gets up, "Look, I'm going to go out somewhere. Can I trust you to get home safely?"

"What? Did you get a mission?" Shaw asks in excitement, "You don't want me to go. Because of that guy! John!" She starts to punch him

"Shaw no." John says as he grabs her fists, "I want to see if I can find anything on Mark." he whispers

Shaw nods, "But I can come. It's not that bad."

John nods, "No, it's better if I go alone."

Shaw nods in understanding and gets her bike, "Okay...fine. I'll tell Greer and Corwin you'll be home at 11."

John nods in thanks, "Or earlier. Text me when you get back."

"Will do." She says as she rides off

John then grabs his bike as he rides to the Snow household. He turns on their street to see boxes on the lawn and curb. He sees Mr and Ms. Snow carrying more to the front

"John…" Mr. Snow says once John stops his bike

John hopped off of his bike, "Mr. Snow."

He holds out his hand, "How you doing lad?" he asks

John firmly took his hand and firmly shakes it, "I'm good sir.." He didn't think it was appropriate to ask how he was doing since it's quite obvious, "Thank you." he finishes

Ms. Snow came around, "What are you doing here at this hour?"

"Well, I wanted to check on you. I know this must be rough. And I'm sorry."

They both nod, "Thats nice, John. Would you like to come in?" Ms. Snow asks

John nods, "I'd love to."

Once inside he takes off his shoes and hangs up his jacket.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Ms. Snow offered

John shakes his head, "No thank you."

"Sit down. Get comfortable." Mr. Snow offered

He sat down

"If I can ask, what's with the boxes?" John asks

"Well, since there is no reason to be here for the school anymore. We are moving." Mr. Snow filled in

"I hate to see you go. It's been awhile since I last saw you. But you gotta do what you gotta do right?"

Mr. Snow nods, "Yes indeed. You know John, I am kind of happy you came."

John was suspicious, "And why is that?"

"You know Mark as good as that no good Kara Stanton...You must know why he ended his life."

Mark said...SHE was coming, and that she won't stop Harolds words played in his head

John shrugged, "Honestly, I don't know. I haven't seen Mark since you guys came here."

Mr. Snow scoffs, "Yeah, him and Kara were expelled. EXPELLED!" he booms

"But I know you moved all of a sudden, why is that? How is your mother?" Ms. Snow asks

John hung his head, 'They don't know' he said

"Uh." John stutters, "She uh…" They waited for his response

"Dead." John finished

Both Snows gasped in shock

"She died?" Ms. Snow asked holding her hand over her heart

John nods, "Yeah. In an accident."

"Wow. This is not our year for any of us huh?" Mr. Snow says trying to lift the mood

John laughs, "I guess not."

Ms. Snow grabbed his hand, "Well where are you now? Living wise."

"I'm being fostered." John answered

"Look.." Ms. Snow starts, "We loved you like the 2nd son we never had."

John knows where this is going

"If you want a family. We'll be here." Ms. Snow finishes

John took his hands from under hers and put them on top

"I appreciate the offer. I really do." He starts, "But I like where I am. And you two are just grieving."

Ms. Snow wipes away her tears and nods, "I'm sorry to do that to you John."

He rubs her back, "It's ok." he grabs a tissue and gives it to her

"Look son, uh we have some of Marks things up there in his room. I'd like to talk with the Misses for a moment. If you see anything you want you can take it." Mr. Snow asks

John nodded, "Yes sir. Thanks." He says as he goes upstairs

Once in Marks old room he looks around. Nothing has been packed yet. He decided to look through some things to see if he can find anything A) Relating to his suicide, B) Anything relating to HIM in general, or C) anything on Kara Stanton and what his message meant about her.

He looks under his bed, in some drawers, in his CD's...But finds nothing. He turns to see a picture of Him, Mark, and Kara on their 5th grade graduation. He takes the frame off and sees ripped paint behind the wall. He peels it back and a box in the wall is shown.

'Never the best hider of things' he thought

He takes the box and see it labeled, "John"

He opens the box and sees many things, some of them were mementos from their childhood and...bullets. These were bullets for a gun John's father owned. He noticed something white at the bottom of the box. They were papers. He would wait till he got home until he opened it. He looked around and tried to find some other things. He found, a 'diary' by the looks of it, His computer, his paper of passwords (very helpful), and his calendar with some days labeled.

He stuffed these items into the box. Mr. Snow called him down. Ms. Snow excused herself to bed. John said thank you and bidded them goodnight.

He got on his bike and quickly went home. He walked in. It was 10:15. His parents must've been in their room because they weren't on the couch where they would normally be. He ran into his room and put the box on his bunk. Before the checked anything. He checked to make sure Shaw was home, she didn't text him. He saw her sleeping so he got a not and stuck it on her forehead. He went back to his room and emptied out the items. He used Mark's password book to get into his computer. He was logging in as Lionel sat beside him

"That ain't your laptop." Lionel says

"Its Marks." John fills in, eyes still locked on the screen

"What? You stole a dead guys computer?" Lionel asks, "Why am I not surprised?"

"His parents said I could take anything."

"His parents?" Lionel raises an eyebrow

"I went to their house. I told them how sorry I was about Mark. His mom got sad and said they had nothing to do with his stuff so they opened it up to me."

"But why his computer?" Lionel asked

John looks at him, "That's not all of it, look." he says gesturing to the box

"It's got your name on it." Lionel says point out the obvious

"Uh-huh. It was behind a picture of Me, him, and Kara. I'm trying to solve his suicide."

Just as Fusco says something, Carter says something in the doorway

"Marks?" She asks

Both Lionel and John turn around to face her. They both nod.

"I heard about your other buddy coming to our school." Carter says

"Kara?" John asks, she nods.

He sighs, "Shaw said the same thing."

Carter came over and sat next to John with Lionel on the other side

"You know, he said something to me that I don't understand." Carter said

"What is it?" John asks

"He said, that she is planning something. Just make sure everyone is aware…"

John looks at Lionel, "Just like Finch…" John whispers

"What about me?" Finch said as he walked in

"Carter got the same message from Snow as you did." John filled in

"What message?" Carter asked confused

"That she is going to do something." John says as he turns to the computer. It loaded with Marks emails...Some new ones after he died. Mostly from school related things...Nothing out of the ordinary. He than checked his drive. There was something labeled as Project J.

He clicks on the link. It takes him to a doc. Everyone is looking as John scrolls through it. It was a detailed document of how Mark and Kara were suspended, where Mark and Kara would go, Mark to Johns school and Kara to a private school. But they all gasped when they saw the objective... Obviously it was for John. Then it all clicked. It was all planned, being expelled, transfering schools. The whole reason Mark came to Johns school, was to kill him.

Transition

"LOOK! If private school can't help you, I don't know what will. This is the 3rd time you've been expelled! But you are going back to public school, something more suburban…" A female says

"Ok." another voice says

"We are going to go back east. You know Marks old school? That one. Got it Kara?" She says

"Yes, mother." Kara responds

 **TBC**.

 _OHH CLIFFHANGER. I think this is my first real one. More like these along the way! Adopted siblings won't be for much longer I would suppose. I know how this is going to end, but more information should be shared before. It will end soon, but not anytime soon...If that makes sense…._


	9. Chapter 9: Playing Detectives - Part 2

_**Summary** \- John, Harold, Lionel, and Carter investigate the Kara situation; Johns past just keeps coming up; Harold gets together with an old friend._

 **Transition**

'Eliminate John Reese'... 3 words showed on the computer screen

John, Harold, Lionel, and Carter were still in shock as they read those words. Could their eyes be deceiving them?

"Wow." Lionel says, "That broad really has it out for ya." he tells John

John sighs short but loudly, "I know, but why?" He kept asking himself. Was she REALLY that much of a monster to give a kill order?! It didn't make any sense…

"John!" A voice boomed up the stairs

All the kids looked, some shrieked in scare, at the doorway. John Greer was calling John.

"Yes?" He asks back

"Come down a moment please?" Greer asked

"Be right there." He gets up hesitantly. Was Kara possibly here?

He makes his way down and sees his parents in their normal seats. It was almost like an interrogation. But he was shocked to find Iris there.

Corwin was smiling, "Please...Sit John."

He sits down like everytime his parent calls some sort of meeting.

"John, how is everything?" Iris asks

John just nods, "Good. It's all good." He stretches, and lies. A chick he used to be friends with wants him dead...How can he be ok?! Well, they didn't have to know that.

"How do you like it here?" Iris asks

John looks toward his parents, "Well, I can't say anything bad with them right there, not that I would." He assures his parents who smile, "But I like it here. I guess its better than...not.." He says making himself confused.

"How are you dealing with the loss of your mother?" Iris asks

"Taking it day by day." He replies simply

"You know, her funeral is going to be next Sunday." Iris mentioned

"Is that so?" He says sarcastically, "She's been dead for, what, 4 months now?! This couldn't happen sooner?" He says angry

Iris breathes in and says, "Look, your situation was awfully confusing. She never changed her will after you came into their family."

"What do you mean?" John asks

"Your mom had her will laid out for your father, and your sister-"

"Who are both dead." He says bitterly

"Yes." She sighs again, "We tried to figure it out. And since you don't really have blood family left, we had to have you here and figure out her will. I came to tell you that your old home will be sold-"

"What?" John asks getting up

"The house. Will. be. Sold. You can't keep it, John. But they are allowing you to go to the house and get some old items of yours and your mothers."

"What about my dads guns?" John asked

"You aren't 18, so you can't have them. They will be returned." Iris explained

"Are they still there?"

"Yes, but they will eventually be returned."

John puts his hands on his face, "When are we going?"

"Whenever you are ready, I was thinking today." Iris said

He gets up and gets his boots, "Okay, lets go."

 **Transition**

Once they arrive to Johns old house at least 2 hours away from his foster home. Iris explained some things to John.

"You can go in. I will wait here. I trust you you won't go near his guns." Iris says pointing a finger at him. All of them are on the couch, they will know which one is missing, if one is."

He nods, "I got it."

"Good." She says, "Go ahead."

John gets out and walks in. Just as Iris says, all of his fathers guns and rifles and shotguns are on the couch. John dad taught him how to shoot when he was 8, just like he also taught him to drive when he was 8. He taught him how to properly defend himself. After what he has been through, he was very happy that his father did what he did. He looked at most of the pictures. It was mostly him, his mom, and his dad. Some had his sister, and his parents before he came into the family. He took one of each photos. He made his way up to his old room. It was average, surprisingly clean. Bed sheets are still the same from when he woke up the day that his Mom was killed. He took some clothes, his old computer, toiletries, and some other things. He was about to leave when he remembered something. He walked into his parents old room. There was a safe there. He remembered being young and asking his dad what was in there. He said he didn't know. At the time he believed him. But he wants to see if something is there. He tried his Dads birthday, didn't work, his moms, didn't work, his dad's death date, not that he planned his death day, but itdidn't work, his birthday, didn't work, his adoption day, didn't work,what was it? He then put in his sisters birthday, that didn't work, he decided to try her death date...He waited a few moments before it clicked. It worked. He opened it. There was some papers filed, and there was a…

A handgun, a tiny one too.

John took the files and put them in his bag. He took the tiny gun and put it in his pocket. He only took two bullets because too many would raise suspicion.He would get more later on. He doesn't think anyone knows about this gun. He closed the safe and finally goes down and takes one more look at his, was his, old house before he leaves with Iris. He was confused. All of the big guns he had...He kept a smaller one handy for emergencies.

"So? What did you get?" Iris asked, "I won't check because I trust you."

John smiled, "I got some pictures, old clothes, my computer, some other sentimental things."

"Thats nice." Iris says, but she turns to John, "John." She starts

"Hm?" He says looking at a picture of his sister

"Well, I was wrong."

He looks at her, "What do you mean?"

"John, your Mom already had her funeral." She says

"What?" John asks in shock

"Someone told me the wrong date, which was next Sunday. But it was really 4 months ago. Some time after she died."

John scoffs, "I missed my moms funeral. Great. How could this have happened?" He states sarcastically. Like really, what the hell?!

"I don't know.I'm sorry John." Iris says sympathetically

"Whatever." John starts, "What's done is done."

"I like that approach, John." Iris admired

John smiles fakely as she continues driving

 **Transition (The next morning)**

John was brushing his hair and getting ready for school. He put his hand gun in a tiny box which he kept in his backpack. There was no need to get the box in it but he wanted the gun with him.

"Has anyone seen my math homework?" Lionel yells in the hall

"Didn't know you did homework Lionel." Shaw sneers

"I didn't. I'm talkin' about the sheet that says what was the homework. Better to have something other than nothing." Lionel clarifies

Harold shakes his head. Lionel was never going to make it in highschool. He looks at this note he has written for a classmate of his. His friend and crush since the 6th grade. Grace Hendricks. He was nervous about asking her on a date with him. 'What if she said no?' 'They were close, why would she say no?'

"Harold, are you okay?" Alicia asks. Sensing his uneasiness

Harold smiles, "Well yes. You see...There is….well…" Harold stutters

Alicia raises her eyebrows waiting for a response

Harold closes his eyes and breathes in and out, "It's nothing."

Alicia doesn't believe him. But she lets it go nonetheless. They'll talk about it later

"Well do you want something to eat before you go?" Alicia asks

Harold grabs an apple, "No thank you. I'm actually meeting Nathan at the library before school."

Alicia nods, "Ok, well text me when you get there and when you arrive at the school. Okay?"

Harold nods, "Yes of course. See you later Mom." Harold says as he leaves

Soon later most of the kids come down.

"Wheres Glasses?" Lionel asks looking for his smart brother

"He is meeting Nathan before school." Alicia fills in, "Eggs anyone?"

Everyone says yes. They eat and head to school.

 **Transition**

Harold looks around the pillar of the lunch room to see Grace Hendricks sitting there. He is trying to decide what exactly he is going to say. He sees Graces friend turn and leave, its now or never. He walks over to her

"Grace?" Harold says shyly

She smiles, "Oh my god, Harold!" She says excitedly as she gets up and hugs him, he happily returns it. He puts the note in his pocket when he had the chance.

Still in his grasp, she says, "It's been awhile."

"Yes, yes, I am aware. Things have gotten crazy, school, life…"

She nods and rubs her hand down his shoulder, "Yeah…"

After a few, awkward, moments of silence, Harold and Grace release each other and sit down.

"Grace?" Harold asks

"Yeah, Harold?" She responds

"Would you like to come to dinner with me? It would be on me and I would really like to catch up with you and have nice and decent conversations. Seems like you can't really do that these days…" He mutters

Grace laughs but nods nonetheless, "Yeah, I'd love to." She says as she gets up to leave for her class. But she stops and turns,

"Look, you have always been my friend." She starts, Harold nods, "but when it comes dates, my dad would want to talk to you and your parents first."

Harold nods and smiles, "It shouldn't be a problem. We can have the parents meet Friday night and we could go out on Saturday. Sound good?"

Grace nods and gives him a tiny kiss on the cheek, "I'll see you at my house Friday at 7:30."

"See you later, Grace."

 **Transition**

"7:30?" Greer asks as he looks at Corwin, "Yeah that's fine. But Grace's father has known you forever. Why does he want to talk to have a talk with you about dating?"

Harold shrugs, "I don't know…" He honestly admits, "She wants me there earlier so that Mr. Hendricks and I could talk before you come."

Both his parents nod, "Okay, sounds good." Alicia said

Harold nods in thanks, "Thank you both. This is very important to me."

 **Transition**

It was about 1 in the morning. John decided to look more into Mark and Karas plan. He was on Marks computer. He continued to look at the papers inside the box that Mark left him. He also had the calendar Mark used. He saw that this month had certain days labeled, his first day at John's school, the day Mark stabbed him at homecoming, also known as the day of his 'supposed' death, and the date he told Kara.

"Awfully late to be doing homework isn't it, Mr. Reese?" A voice said from the doorway

John laughed, "Not school related homework Harold."

Harold wobbles over and looks over his shoulder, his eyes goes wide as he looks at the calendar "You were supposed to die on homecoming?" he asks in disbelief

John nods, "Yeah, by the looks of it. What I don't understand is why they want me dead to begin with. What kind of people think!-" He stops himself, he was getting angry

Harold looks at a picture. It looked like it was torn from the newspaper, "John, what's this?" Harold asks

John looks at the picture, "School cameras. The school used their cameras to find out it was Mark who stabbed me. It was published in the paper."

Harold quints a bit more and gets a magnifying glass. He hovers it over the picture

"What are you doing Finch?" John asks

"I think there is something….behind this tree." Harold says as he continues to look over the paper. John joins him

As they try to focus the glass, they finally got it focused a few minutes later. It was Kara. John falls back into his chair. Kara was there. Geez, anymore surprises today? He asks himself

"John?" Harold asks John

"Yeah?" He responds

"I need you to think." John was confused

"About why she wants you dead." Harold said

John got up, "Harold, her and Mark were both twisted people. She could want me dead because there is something wrong with her. But to answer your question.." John starts

Harold listens intuitively

John sighs and goes to a backpack under his bed. He opens it up and pulls out a printed article. He printed it right before he moved. He hands it to Harold.

"What is this?" Harold asks

"You know how Lionel is...well. Dirty?" John asks

Harold raises an eyebrow, "I guess…"

"Well I know what dirty looks like cause I was dirty before. I was actually in Liones's place. I was the coverup-er."

"This is the article of…Whom?"

John sighed, "This was the last kid that Kara and Mark eliminated, before I moved. I never understood why we did it in the first place. All they told me is that it was right. I know my neighborhood wasn't exactly the safest place, but not even my mom knew about all of the types of kids, and killers are in there. I always had a knife with me."

Harold nods, "Yes, I know."

John scoffed, "Now that Kara is coming back, I'm gonna need a gun on me."

Harold looks in shock, "Wait, didn't people come to your house and take away all of your Dad's old guns?"

John reluctantly pulls out his dads mini handgun.

"This was in a safe in my old house. I doubt my Mom knew it was in there. What confuses me is that I saw all my dads guns, big, small, medium. But he kept THIS one in his safe. Why?"

Harold shrugged, "Most power, easy friction? You really think I know this?"

John laughs and rubs his face, "So many questions that have no answers…"

"But nonetheless John, I don't think having a gun is the answer. What if the school, or worse, Mom and Dad find out? You will literally die." Harold emphasizes

"Either way I'll be dead, Finch. If I don't do something. What do I have to lose?" John asks

Harold puts his hand on Johns shoulder in support, "John, you are 16. You shouldn't have to make these decisions. It really hurts about how you think like this is...normal."

John scoffed, "Hey. I didn't lose too much to know that this isn't normal."

Harold sighs this time, "We all go through the dark…" He starts

John looks up at him

"But it doesn't mean we have to go through it alone." Harold finishes

John smiled

Harold looked down, "You told me that."

John gave a small nod

"We will get through this. We are in this together, whether you like it or not. I'm not letting you fight this alone, John."

John nods and gets up, "You're a good friend, Harold."

Harold nods, "Same to you."

 **TBC**.

 _So many questions and so many needed answers. Sorry I haven't been updating lately. Life just got the best of me for a bit. Not saying it will be better, but I'm trying. Anyway, I have been adding new tiny plotlines, such as putting Kara back in. I was starting to think I killed Mark too soon but what's done is done. I am not close to being done but if there is a question you have about a certain part, or storyline and I filed to conclude it, unlikely but it could happen, let me know. Thanks ya'll!!_


	10. Chapter 10: No Matter the Cost

**Summary**

\- _Harold goes on his first date; John is dreading the day of the return of an old "friend"; Harold and Nathan get their first number...ever_

 **Transition**

"So you understand why I'm hesitant about my daughter dating." Mr. Hendricks started, "I feel like since her mother passed away, I feel a more duty to protect her."

Greer nodded, "Believe me, I understand completely. I have three girls of my own. And I believe, on the contrary of Alicia, that the only boys that they need in their lives is me, Harold, Lionel, and John. That is who they only need."

Mr. Hendricks laughed, "I believe that as well, but my wife would disagree. Now, I have known Harold for... forever. I understand he would never hurt Grace. It's just the dating thing…"

"I know." Greer interrupted, "But believe me, like you said he never would, but if hear Harold didn't ever treat her right, I will personally kill him myself."

Mr. Hendricks laughed again, "So its agreed! We both just want them to treat each other with respect." he says as he holds up his glass. Greer happily raised his glass with him as their glasses clinked and they both took a sip.

"What do you think they are talking about in there?" Harold asked Grace as they were in the next room over hearing them laugh.

"I don't know." Grace admitted as she laid her head on Harolds chest, "But I think it's good that he is laughing. It may mean he will be okay with me dating."

Harold hesitantly laid his hand on Graces shoulder as she got more comfortable on his chest. Harold wasn't uncomfortable with this, but he never held a girl like this before.

"You mean you never dated?" Harold asked

Grace shook her head, "No. Never cared for it and my dad wouldn't let me." She chuckled comically

"So what changed your mind about dating?" Harold asked

She looked at Harold, "Found the right guy."

Harold smiled and started blushing, "But we haven't had our first date yet."

"I've known you for awhile, Harold. Sure, we have gotten busier. But you haven't changed, for the better. I know I'm making the right choice." Grace smiled at him again

Harold strokes her hair, "Well, I think I'm making the right choice as well."

Greer and Mr. Hendricks both walked into the room Grace and Harold were in. They both stood up in a panic.

"Well?" Grace asks

Mr. Hendricks crossed his arms, "Well, you are in 11th grade now and I can loosen the reigns...a little bit."

"YES!" Grace yelled as she hugged Harold

They both hugged for a couple of moments.

"Thank you sir." Harold said in Graces arms

Mr. Hendricks just nodded.

"Well Harold, it is getting late out. I believe it's time we should go." Greer says to Harold

Grace and Harold release each other slowly.

Harold nods his head, "Yes, sir." Harold turns to Grace and takes her hands into his, "So, I'll pick you up at 7 tomorrow?"

Grace nods her head, "Sounds good." She smiles

Harold takes his hand and offers it to Mr. Hendricks

"Thank you again, sir." Harold says

Mr. Hendricks shakes his hand again, "You are very welcome."

With that, Greer and Harold left the Hendricks household. They enter Greers car.

Harold sighs in relief and happiness as he puts on his seatbelt

"You excited?" Greer asks his son

"Of course I am. This is my first date ever you know?" Greer nods his head.

"All the dances I have ever went to were with Nathan and Arthur. Never a girl." Harold specifies

"I know. All I want for you to have is a good, safe time."

Harold smiles, "Thanks, Dad."

 **Transition**

 _*BEEP*_

 _*BEEP*_

 _*BEEP*_

 _*BEEP*_

Lionel groaned as he banged on their alarm clock.

"Hey!" He yelled as he banged John who was on the top bunk, "Rise and shine Wonderboy."

John got up slowly and expertly hopped down off his bunk without using the ladder

"It's your turn to wake up Glasses." Lionel says as he makes his way to the bathroom

John walks over to Harold who didn't look like he has moved all night. He shook the sleeping Finch

"Good morning, Finch." John says as Harold starts to wake up

Harold squints his eye from the light, "What time is it?" he asks as he grabs his glasses

"6:15." John says quietly, thinking about what today is.

Harold looks up at John, "Today is Ms. Stantons first day isn't it?"

John nods sadly, "Yeah, it is. But I'll probably come back alive."

Harold sat up, "Just stay close to a crowd, John." John nodded

"And don't off with strangers." Harold finishes

"I'm not 5, Finch." John says irritably

Harold smiles, "I just care John."

John nods, "Yeah I know. I'm just...nervous."

Harold looked at him in shock. He has never seen John shown himself as vulnerable.

Harold looks at him in reassurance, "I know, but every "in" has an "out"."

John raises an eyebrow, "Where did you get that one?"

Harold rubs his eye and puts on his glasses, "Its 6:17 in the morning, cut me some slack."

John laughed and went off to go downstairs. Harolds phone rang.

"Hello?" Harold said tiredly. He became more alert when Nathan started babbling through the line

"Whoa whoa Nathan! Slow down, what's wrong?" Harold asked concerned

"You might want to come down to the garage?" Nathan said

"Why?" Harold asked

"We have a number?" Nathan said in a monotone voice

Harolds eyes went wide, "Numbers?"

"From the machine." Nathan continued, "A number."

 **Transition**

Harold and Nathan met in Harold's garage. They both were able to handle the attendance at school saying that they were both there so their parents wouldn't get a call from the school and their parents were working so that wasn't an issue.

Harold walked into the garage, "What is going on, Nathan?"

Nathan came in behind him and laughed, "The world is changing with, and we are changing with it."

Harold was confused, "What do you mean?" Then he came to a realization, "The machine!" He said with his eyes wide as he ran over to his main working computer and typed in the admin information.

Harold looked at Nathan, "How did you find out we had a number?"

Nathan sat down, "You know that old payphone, we found when we were going to our old clubhouse. It was broken and you tried to fix it and it started working? And then the storm came, knocked over the treehouse so we moved it into my garage?"

Harold nods, "Yes. And?" he pushed

"It. Rang." Nathan said

Harold squinted his eyes, "Again...And?"

"Well I answered it. In a rotobic-automated voice, it said these things." Nathan said as he took a notepad and put it in front of Harold

It was a lot of random things, to Nathan that is, but Harold knew what it meant. Over the time he wasn't with Nathan or Arthur, he would make modifications to the machine. He was going to tell Nathan and Arthur eventually.

Harold got up and got his backpack and the notepad.

"Where are you going?" Nathan asked

Harold looked at him, "I want to show you what these words mean. Come with me." Harold said as he left. Nathan followed him out.

They both walked into the New York Library.

"Hello Harold!" The librarian greeted

Harold smiled, "Good morning Ms. Morgan."

"Zoe's mom?" Nathan whispers to Harold

"Yes." Harold whispered back

She looked at the time, "Aren't you supposed to be in school."

Nathan looked at Harold, he just remained smiling

"Donuts and coffee for a week on me?" Harold suggested as an exchange for her silence

Ms. Morgan was hesitant, but she eventually nodded, "Only because I know you know what you are doing."

Harold nodded in thanks, "Yes ma'am." Harold led Nathan to a certain bookshelf. Once they arrived, Harold looked at Nathan and gave him his notepad.

"Read me the first three words please." Harold asked Nathan

Nathan did as he was asked. Harold grabbed a book off of the shelf. It was first word, and the authors initials. They did the same for the rest of the words.

Nathan looked shocked once they put it together, "The dewey decimal system." he looked at Harold, "Wow."

Harold went one step farther, "Do you know what the rest of it is?"

Nathan looked at the books and then at him, "What do you mean?"

"Just because we have the books, doesn't mean we are done. Look at the numbers on the bottom of the books."

Nathan did that.

"Anything look familiar?" Harold asked

"9 digits…" Nathan said. Once he said that he looked at Harold again, "A social security number."

Harold nodded.

"But who's number is it?" Nathan asked

"The machine knows that, lets go." Harold said as he brought the books back to where he found them and Nathan. They made their way to Harold's garage and typed in the social on a police server. Hacked and untraceable of course.

As Harold was figuring out the number, his mind kept having questions. The machine wasn't even government legal. How did it get so smart to the point it started finding numbers? How does it, the machine, think that Harold and Nathan would deal with it? He made modifications but nothing this significant. Does Arthur know? He'll have to wait for Arthur to come back from an exchange program.

As Harold finished typing, the result of the social.

Harolds eyes went wide.

It was Kara Stanton's number.

 **Transition**

John was walking the halls from class to class. Cautious of others, they may be giving him weird looks, but you can't be too careful.

"Hey wonderboy." A voice said to him. John whipped around and shoved Lionel to a locker, not knowing it was him initially.

"Hey! What's your deal?!" Lionel yelled

John immediately lets go. He turns to see his classmates looking at him, scared. Once they made eye contact, they immediately went back doing whatever it was they were doing.

Lionel fixes his shirt, "What's your deal?"

John began backing away to continue going to class, "Nothing."

Lionel runs in front of John, "Are ya kiddin' me? You shove me to a locker and says it was nothing at all. Well I want and explanation!"

"I said it was nothing Lionel." John said simply as he walked around him

"I'll tell our parents." Lionel said. He didn't like to tattle, he was probably bluffing depending on Johns next move, but he wants to know what Johns malfunction was

John stops in his tracks and turns to look at Lionel, "Just stay close to one of us."

Lionel was confused, "What do you mean?"

John was about to say something but saw Kara Stanton standing at the end of a hallway. No expression, just looking. He quickly went to Lionel and grabbed his arm and walked him to the opposite side of the school.

He wasn't going to explain everything about his past to Lionel in a nutshell, but he knows he has to be aware of what is going on currently. He was going to protect his family no matter the cost.

 **TBC.**

 _This is only the beginning_


	11. Chapter 11: The Interrogation

**Summary**

\- **_Harold plans his romantic evening with his childhood crush Grace; John's trying to figure out how to deal with Kara, without risking his family's safety._**

 **Transition**

"Hey! Where are we going?" Lionel yelled as he was dragged by John to the other side of the school.

John didn't respond and he kept walking fast. Eventually running into someone.

"Hey! Watch where you-...John?" Harold asked as his brother just walked into him

"Finch? What are you doing? What's wrong?" John asked as he saw Harolds distraught look

"Have you seen Kara at all today?" Finch asked

John shakes his head yes, "Why?"

Harold walked around John and Lionel and walked down the hallway. John quickly followed.

"Finch? What is going on?" Harold didn't respond.

"Not cool when someone doesn't respond to your questions huh?" Lionel remarked.

"Shut up, Lionel." John hissed.

"Nathan, see anything?" Harold says into his phone.

 _"Yeah."_ Nathan says into the line, _"She's currently on the 3rd floor, main hallway."_

Harold clicks his phone again, "How about you Mr. Dillinger? Are you in position?" John looked at him in shock. As in Rick Dillinger? One of the schools "tough guys" and bully.

 _"Yeah. Are we still clear on the terms of our agreement?"_ Rick says on the other line.

Harold sighs, "Yes we are. In exchange for your services I can guarantee you at least an A on all future homework assignments and projects for the next 3 weeks."

"Okay Harold, What's the plan?" Rick asks

"Let me know about all of Kara Stanton's whereabouts. Ask her what she wants with John Reese." Harold responded. John just looks at him. Harold hangs up and keeps walking.

"Where are you going?" John asks.

"To class, John." Harold was lying.

"What are you doing with Kara?" John pushes.

"A test run, Mr. Reese." Harold responded.

John grabs Harolds arm, "This is my fight, not yours. Stay out of it."

Harold smiled and gently shook John off, "That is where you're wrong, Mr. Reese." Harold looked right at John. "And you can't tell me what to do."

Harold walked off. John left it alone. For now.

 **Transition**

It was Friday night, aka, Harolds first date. He straightened his tie, brushed his hair and teeth.

"Hey Finch." Fusco said as he walked into the bathroom where Harold was getting ready. He squirted cologne at Harold about five times.

Harold was coughing and shaking off the heavy scent with his hands.

"Lionel! What is that?" Harold yells.

"My lucky cologne. Your girl won't be able to keep her hands off you." Lionel says smiling.

'Or make her run.' Harold thinks.

"Smile Harry." Root says in the doorway with a camera. Harold looks at her and just looks away. He hears the camera shutter.

"Our little Finch is growing up." Shaw says joining Root at the door.

"So where are you taking her, Harold?" Carter asks, making that all the girls at the doorway. Watching intensively.

"A nice little French place." Harold responds fixing his tie in the mirror.

"Her choice or yours?" Carter asks.

"I saw her at lunch today at school. She had some sort of French food." Harold says as he grabbed his car keys and went downstairs.

Carter smiled, "Well have fun." She hugged Finch goodbye.

Harold was making his way to the door when he ran into John, who was in front of the front door.

"Something you need, Mr. Reese?" Harold asked.

John smiled and put something in Finch's coat pocket.

"Be safe." John said in his ear and walked upstairs.

Harold went into his coat pocket to see what John put in it. He pulled out a condom.

Harold looked up and smiled. He put it back in his pocket. He knew nothing was going to happen but he didn't want to be seen with it. On the top of the stairs, unseen, the rest of the kids were trying not to laugh at that situation.

Harold got in his car and drove to Graces. He took his flowers he got and went up to her door. He knocked. Grace answered.

"Hi, Harold." Grace smiled. 'She looked so beautiful.' Harold thought.

"Hi Grace." Harold looked in the house. "Where's your father?"

"He had to go to work. He's sorry he missed you." Grace says still smiling.

Harold smiles back at her, "You look beautiful."

"You look handsome yourself." Grace replies.

Harold holds out his hand, "Shall we?"

Grace takes it, "We shall."

They held hands as they went inside Harolds car.

 **Transition**

Harold and Grace make their way into the restaurant. Finch walks up to the counter.

"Hello. 2 for Finch." Harold tells the lady.

She clicks on the computer.

"Your all set. Please sit for a minute." Harold nods in thanks.

After a minute or two a waitress escorts Harold and Grace to their table.

"See anything good?" Harold asks Grace.

Grace smiles, "It all looks good. How did you know I liked French food?"

Harold smiled. He was going to have some fun with this, "I had a thought."

Grace smiled. There was some awkward silence between them. The waitress took their order and left them. Silence was filling the air.

"Harold, your just as awkward as we were in 6th grade when you had a crush on me." Grace pointed out.

Harold spilled his water. Grace moved back but giggled.

"I'm so sorry Grace." Harold said, she waved him off telling him it's ok.

"I'm going to clean my shirt. I'll be right back." Harold says as he got up.

"I'll be here." Grace says.

Meanwhile, on a rooftop near the restaurant Harold and Grace were, John and Shaw were watching them. They were on one of their "stakeouts". Just to make sure everything was on the safe side.

"Harold is one heck of a womanizer." John pointed out.

"And a dink in the dating world." Shaw said.

"He's trying." John comes to his defense.

Shaw smiled and looked back into her scope. Her expression changed quickly.

"Kara." Shaw said.

"What?" John asked.

"Kara Stanton is in the restaurant." Shaw finishes. John quickly looked in the scope. Shaw was correct. John gets his gun, his dad's old gun and is about to go down to the streets.

"Wait here." He tells Shaw. Despite her protests she stays on the roof.

Kara Stanton sees Grace on her own at the table. She decided to go over.

"Hi miss, I'm Kara. Did I just see you with Harold Finch?" Kara asked.

Grace looks confused, "Um yes? Why?"

"Harold was supposed to take me to dinner here tonight." Kara said.

Grace knew better than this, "Haha. Funny. I know Harold. He didn't ask you here."

Kara shrugged, "Well, he texted me."

"Can I see the text?" Grace asks. She got nervous. What if she was telling the truth.

John barges in the restaurant. He goes straight to the table.

"Kara." John says as he walks up to her.

Kara smiles and turns around, "John Reese."

"What are you doing here?" Grace asks coming up.

"Grace don't believe her. Harold never asked her out."

"Then what is she doing here?"

"She's using you and Harold to get to me." John responds

Meanwhile in the bathroom, Harold is cleaning his shirt and coming up with discussion topics for him and Grace so there wouldn't be anymore silence between them. He steps out of the bathroom with his confidence together. His confidence dropped when he saw Kara and John with Grace.

"What's going on here?" Harold walks up to them.

All eyes were on him. Not one word was out until they heard police sirens outside.

'Shaw.' John thought.

"Well I'll see you." Kara said as she quickly shot a gun in the ceiling and ran out. Harold grabbed Grace and threw her to the ground. People were screaming and panicking.

"I gotta get out of here. Stay put, do what they say, relax." John tells Finch who was ready to burst at any moment.

"NYPD! No one move!" An officer yelled. John and Kara both made a clean exit. Harold, Grace, and people near where the bullet was fired was arrested.

John ran and followed Kara down a series of streets. Kara thought she'd lose him if she went in a dark alley. She stood there catching her breathe, until she heard a click behind her.

"Pretty dumb move for a girl who's planning a murder." A voice who says behind her.

Kara turned around and it got her a punch in the face.

"Who's there?" Kara asks, gun in hand.

No answer. Kara got up turned on her cell phone light. There is no one there. She turns around. She finds herself disarmed and standing directly in front of John Reese.

"No gun?" John says holding hers in his hand. She doesn't respond. He gives her a punch in the face. Knocking her out.

Kara wakes up tied to a chair. With a light in her face. Across a table is John and another girl. Kara wasn't aware of this other girl.

Kara laughs, "What is this? Some informal interrogation?"

John leans across the table, "Yes. Now you are going to tell me what the hell it is you are doing. Because of you, my brother is in jail, and so is an innocent girl. So tell me what this all means."

John printed all the files Kara has sent to Mark and show them to her. Even the plan to kill John.

"So Mark worked with you right before he killed himself. Little rat." Kara scoffed.

"You want to kill me, Kara. Why?" John asked.

Kara laughed, "Your joking right? Your former pal has been with you through all sorts of crazy things yet he is still alive with all of that information in his head with the possibility of spilling...I don't know John you figure it out."

John looks at her. "Well Kara. We have all this information on you, and we know you and your plans was one of the reason for Marks suicide. Anything to say?"

Kara laughed, again, "I've been the cause for a lot of deaths, as you know. Marks, a couple of others you were there for." Kara stopped, "And your mothers." John quickly looked up.

"Who do you think was in that car on the wrong side of the road?" Kara asked, Sameen looked at John seeing hell's fury in his eyes.

"I mean, It was supposed to be you who died in the crash." That did it.

John leaped across the table and grabbed Kara by her neck.

"Geez John, I thought you didn't like hitting women." Kara said.

"A) you aren't a women, your a monster, and B) Most of them wouldn't kill the most important person in my whole life!" John yelled.

"John, John, JOHN!" Sameen yelled trying to get her brother to let go. He eventually did.

"John, you got weak. Plus, you can't arrest me. No evidence." Kara smirked.

"Well that's where you're wrong Kara." John said turning all the lights on in a abandoned storage unit. Making cameras more visible. Kara cursed at herself. She's lost her guard.

"Your busted Kara." John said, "give up now."

"John, your just as guilty as I am. If I go down, you are coming with me." Kara said

John looked at her. He knew he was. Handing her in would lead to his arrest as well. There was evidence with John's name in it.

John picked up the phone. John dialed 911.

 **Transition (At the jail)**

Harold and Grace were questioned. They claimed the shooter was Kara Stanton. They were looking into it now, but they both had to stay put.

"Well, this is one heck of a first date." Grace said

Harold nodded, "Yes. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring you into this."

Grace laughed, "Hey, it's been a blast." She was lying.

Harold looked at her. He knew this work with Nathan and his current situation would only put Grace in harm's way. He had to distance himself.

"Grace…?" Harold said to her.

"Yes Harold?" Grace responded.

"I think it's best if I distance myself from you. It's not the first time this sort of thing has happened." Harold tried to let her off easy.

"Harold you can't be serious-." Grace started as Finch cut her off.

"I am. I don't want to see you Grace." Harold said with more venom this time. He didn't want Grace to be a part of all this he was becoming involved in.

Grace started to cry, "Harold...Don't."

Harold was about to say something until an officer came out, "You two are free to go." He said.

Harold got up. He offered his hand to help Grace. She refused it and instead just burst out of the room. Harold sighed and followed. Harold went through the doors of the station to meet up with Grace. Once he got outside he saw Grace, Mr. Hendricks, and his father Mr. Greer. They were all looking at a police car. Harold looked at the car. A couple people got out. It was Kara Stanton, and John. They were both cuffed and escorted inside the station. Harold looked at John in sympathy. John looked at him in a state of feeling lost. Sameen also got out but she wasn't arrested. She stood with Harold as their brother and his old friend went inside of the station.

 **TBC.**

 _Sorry for the stop. It's updated and there isn't much to say. Reese's past is catching up._


	12. Chapter 12: The Trial

**_Summary - John is arrested and he goes on trial against Kara Stanton for the fight of his life._**

 **Transition**.

As John and Kara were rushed into the police station, Harold and Sameen looked at each other in pure shock.

An angry Greer walked over to them, "Hey! What the hell is going on?"

"I'd like to know also." Mr. Hendricks said as he walked over with an angry Grace behind him.

"Well, Grace and I were out to dinner, then Kara came, then John showed up, Kara blew a hole in the ceiling then bailed. Grace and I were brought here and then we left and here we are." Harold filled them in

"What was John doing there?" Mr. Greer asks

Harold shrugs, "I don't know."

Mr. Hendricks shook his head, "I trusted you, Harold." Finch looked at him with a hurt expression.

"I never want you near my daughter again. Come on Grace." Mr. Hendricks said as Grace followed him. Grace knew he wasn't bad but she wanted to know why he'd broken up with her.

"Dad-" Sameen starts.

Greer holds up a hand, "Enough. Both of you get in the car." Harold and Sameen obeyed. Mr. Greer got in his car and drove away. Not one word is exchanged.

In his seat, Harold was texting between Nathan and Rick.

 **To Rick From Harold.** Rick, you were supposed to keep following on Ms. Stanton. You didn't do your job, therefore I will not give you the homework I told you I'd do.

 **To Harold From Rick.** I kept tabs on here until 3! You still owe me Finch!

 **To Rick From Harold.** I told you until she fell asleep. She interrupted my date, got us arrested, and got my brother arrested all because you failed to watch her. I'm not holding my end because you didn't. End of discussion.

 **To Nathan From Harold.** Anything on Kara's number?

 **To Harold From Nathan.** Her number is still up as of 10 minutes ago. Hey, did I hear your brother got arrested?

 **To Nathan from Harold.** Long story. But that means the threat is still imminent. We have to get to Kara, but first we must get John out of jail. This is exactly why I didn't want him as an asset.

 **To Harold from Nathan.** I got it. Let's talk about this tomorrow.

'If I make it out.' Harold thought. Finch then got another text from Rick.

 **To Harold from Rick.** You'll owe me one way or another Finch. Come up with the pay, or else.

Harold just ignored the text. He took a screenshot to be sure.

When they pulled in the driveway. Harold and Sameen both followed their father into the house. When they walked in, they are met with Alicia Corwin and Iris talking on the couch, with some files.

Greer gently pushed two of his kids forward, "Sit."

Harold sat across his mother while Sameen sat next to Harold across from Iris.

Iris was first to speak, "Well I wish we met again under better circumstances."

No one said anything.

Iris smiled, "I saw John in the jail. He's hanging in there. Although, I was surprised by who his lawyer was."

Greer spoke up, "Who is representing John?"

"Mark Snow's father." Iris replied.

"Why would he want to represent John." Alicia asks.

Iris looked at her, "When he found out that John was arrested and that he could face a lifetime in jail/prison, and that he was against Kara, he offered to fight the case."

"John could face life time in jail?" Harold said with tears in his eyes

Iris nodded and opened a file, "These are his charges."

His whole family looked at the file of what Kara was charging him with. From the disappearances of people to murdering. It was all there.

"Is this all...true?" Alicia asks.

Iris shrugged, "We don't know. We are charging Kara the same thing. What John did, Kara most likely did as well. John never acted alone. They can't prove he did. But we have an upperhand on Kara."

Harold knew what she was talking about, "Marks premonitions."

Iris pointed at him, "Bingo."

Alicia, Greer, and Sameen all looked confused.

"What?" John said

"I'll be right back." Harold went up the stairs into his, John, and Lionel's room where he grabbed the box Mark left for him and his computer.

"Hey, where you going with that glasses?" Lionel says from his bed. Harold doesn't respond instead he just runs back downstairs with the computer, the box and some files.

He brings them downstairs.

"What's all that?" Shaw asks

"A key to Johns freedom." Harold says, "When John went to Mark's house to figure out what it was the Mark meant by Kara having a plan, his parents told him he could take anything that caught his eye. John took all the useful things he could, but something else caught his eye, this box." Harold showed them the box with John's name on it.

Iris was on the computer, "What is this Project J?"

Harold clicked on the file where Karas planned came up.

"Eliminate John Reese?" Iris said in shock

Harold nodded, "Mark came to our school to kill him. Obviously that failed so Kara came here herself to do it."

Greer was disgusted, "What did her mother have to say about all this?"

Harold shrugs, "By putting Kara in the system it gave her one less thing to do in her plan."

"This is ridiculous!" Greer yells, "What are Johns chances of getting out?"

Iris thought, "He has a good chance, especially with this. But he could face consequences."

Harold looked at her, "As long as he gets out."

Some time later, Harold plops in his bed. Angry at the world.

"Hey Glasses." Lionel says from his bunk

"Yes Mr. Fusco." Harold says almost asleep

Lionel looks at him, "He's tough. He'll be okay." Referring to John.

Harold doesn't respond. Instead, he looked at the top, empty bunk where his brother should be.

 **Transition (the next morning)**

Harold woke up at the crack of dawn. The trial wasn't until 8 at night. He got on a suit and he was planning on getting all of his information together for the case, including his own testament. He got downstairs where at the counter was his parents, Iris, and Mr. Snow were talking. Something looked off, they were all distressed.

"What's going on?" Harold asks

"They are trying John as an adult." Mr. Snow says.

Harold was about to swear loudly. He dropped his shoulders and opened his jaw wide open, "Why?"

Mr. Snow tried to reassure him, "Don't worry Kara was already being tried as an adult. I saw to that. They know John has a case and that he could get out so they tried to decrease his chances."

"So what is going to happen? What's going to change?" Harold asked

Mr. Snow smiled, "Guess what I found out?"

Everyone was interested.

"As your parents know, John was arrested. For typical kid stuff. When John was with Kara and Mark, he never killed a soul."

"But, his charges." Greer starts.

"Are what Karas team is charging him with." Mr. Snow filled in. "Her team has no proof. John may have witnessed, but he never killed, unless Kara made him to. That is the charge against John. The killing that Kara made him do."

"How can we prove that?" Harold asked

Mr. Snow pulled out a picture, of a big belt buckle.

"What is that?" Alicia asks

"One of Marks belts." Mr. Snow said, "I've seen these before. No belt buckle is that big unless you make it to be that way."

"What are you trying to say?" Iris asks

Mr. Snow pulls out another picture, of the opened belt buckle

Harold squints at it, "I've seen it before. The outline looks familiar."

"It was a bomb built into a belt buckle." Mr. Snow fills in

"What?" Alicia says in shock

"Kara controlled both of the boys. John was aware of the bomb but he never knew who was in danger. John likes to protect people right? Kara made that her advantage. She'd threaten to press to 'red button' and John didn't take the chance of an innocent person being killed. John was always told that they are doing it for a greater good." Mr. Snow tells them

Mr. Snow closes the file, "I'm going to pay John a visit. If holds his head up high, he is looking at a fighting chance."

Alicia shakes his hand, "Thank you Mr. Snow."

He smiles, "My pleasure."

 **Transition (In the jail)**

John was at breakfast. For the most part, he kept to himself. He barely ate, he never talked unless it was with his family or attorney. He became known as the 'Silent slugger.' He was quiet but he seemed like the type you wouldn't mess with.

The girls now came into the cafeteria, that means the boys time for eating was over. The guards were telling them to step outside. John saw Kara step toward him.

He doesn't say anything instead he goes outside, by walking faster, where he is supposed to go. He follows the men outside. He goes into a corner by himself and just thinks. The same questions appear in his head, What's next?

Some people walk over to him, looks like a gang. 'Oh great.' John thinks.

"Well well well, if it isn't the silent slugger. Do you slug as hard as they say?" One guy said

John didn't answer.

The leader laughs, "Well you live up to your name. Come on." He holds up his fists, "lets see how hard you hit."

This time John found his voice, "My trial is at 8. I want to go home. I'd thank you to leave me alone." he says in his deep voice

The leader sucker punched him, "Just one brawl?" John bleeds but doesn't move. He just falls to the ground.

"What are you going to do about it?" The leader says as he kicks Reese in the face.

John wanted to fight him. Put him in his place. But he knew that'd mess up his chances of going home.

"You call yourself a slugger?" The leader says as he punches him again. Reese just lays there.

"I didn't call myself that." John says on the ground, blood all over him.

The guards finally come over. Dragging the leader off of John.

"What are you doing you nut?" the guard yells at the leader.

"Seeing if the slugger slugs." He simply responds. The guard yells at him telling him to go to his cell. Another guard is helping Reese off the ground.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up." The guard tells John

"You did right not fighting back. I know you could've taken him. I'll vouch for you at the trial."

John doesn't say anything. He is being taken to the nurse to get clean.

 **Transition**

Harold was walking to Nathan's house. He had a file for the machine in his hand. They were continuing building the machine as a way to relieve the stress. Plus, Arthur was back so he could help as well. As Harold keeps walking, he runs into Bill Szymanski and Nick Donnelly, some of Carter's friends.

"Hi Harold!" Bill says cheerly. Harold likes Bill, but he didn't trust Nick all too much.

"Hello." Harold responds politely.

"How are you doing?" Bill asks aware of his situation. Everyone knows John is in jail and that him and Sameen are testifying.

"As well as can be expected." Harold responds.

"How about John? How's it looking?" Bill asks again.

"He's got a good chance." Harold replies

"I hope they keep that threat to national security behind bars. Or kill if they must." Donnelly spoke up

Harold ignored him, "But thanks for asking Bill. I don't think Joss is busy if that is where you're going."

Bill smiled, "Yeah, ok. Thanks. And good luck."

Harold smiled, "Thanks. We have the upperhand, so he should be home soon."

Donnelly groans, obviously not keeping it a secret.

"Do you have something you want to say Mr. Donnelly?" Harold asks, fed up.

Donnelly got in Harolds face, "Yeah. That bum you live with is a no good criminal yet you, Carter, and your whole family can't see it. But not my problem. Not my funeral."

"That is where you're wrong. The fact that you judge people before getting to know them says a lot about you." Harold said in Donnellys face. Donnelly shoved Harold. Harold normally didn't get physical but he is tired of all of this BS. Harold pushed back hard. And Donnelly pushed him even harder making Harold fall. Szymanski got to Harold's defense and prevented Donnelly from doing anything else.

"Stop." Szymanski says. Donnelly backed off and walked away.

Szymanski gave him a quick look of sorrow and followed Nick. Harold sighed, he picked up his folder, grateful it's in a zipper. He looked at his elbow. It was scratched and started to bleed. 'Great.' Harold thought

"Need some help?" A voice asked

Harold looked up. It was Carter.

Harold smiled and held out his hand. Carter grabbed it and pulled him up.

"What happened?" Carter asked

"Nothing worth repeating." Finch said brushing himself off

"I saw it was Donnelly. Was it about the case?" Carter asked

Harold laughed a tiny bit, "He is not John's biggest fan."

Carter nodded, "I know. He's been leaving some nasty notes to John."

Harold looked at her in shock, "Really? Why didn't John say anything?"

Carter looked at him, "Why do you think? He's John."

Finch looked at her, "She makes a good point."

 **Transition (an hour before the trial)**

Mr. Snow and John were preparing for the trial. Mr. Snow brought John a suit from his house for the trial. He was wearing a ocean blue shirt with a black jacket and pants. He took a shower, tended to his bruises and was ready to rock and roll out of this courthouse. John knew he had a good chance, but he wasn't excited for actually going on stand against Kara.

John started to shake. Mr. Snow held out to him, "You okay?"

John closes his eyes for a moment, "Yes." he replied

Mr. Snow looked at him, "Look, Kara lowered her guard. She wasn't prepared for the things you given her. She admitted to her plans and what she done. If you fought that guy earlier, and ended up badly injuring him, we'd be looking at a different situation right now."

John nods. He looks at Mr. Snow, "If I end up here, then what?" John asks

Mr. Snow took his hand, "We'll deal with that if we get to it."

John closes his eyes trying to hold back tears that want to exit.

 _*Knock knock_

Harold and Sameen entered. They were called to come earlier since they were testifying.

Harold walked over to John, "What happened?"

John looked at him, "Nothing important. What about you? I didn't get a chance to ask you what happened when you were arrested."

"Nothing important." Harold says. He puts a hand on John's shoulder, "Let's get you home."

John just looked at him.

 **Transition (The Trial begins)**

Greer and Corwin walk into the courthouse with their 3/6 children, Root, Carter, and Lionel. They took a seat in a row behind where John, Harold, and Sameen would be sitting.

Lionel looks around the courthouse. He sees most of the family's friends came out for the trial. He saw Grace and Mr. Hendricks, Nathan Ingram, Arthur Claypool, Zoe Morgan, Nick Donnelly and Bill Szymanski, Ms. Snow and a lot others. In the row with Grace, Nathan, and Arthur, he saw them holding a white piece of paper. Lionel got up and went over.

"Hey guys." Lionel greets

"Hey Fusco." Nathan greets back

"What'cha got there?" Lionel asks

Grace responds, "A 'free John' sign. As soon as they say the verdict, the sign goes up."

Lionel looked at Grace weirdly, "I thought you and glasses had some beef with each other."

"We do. But he doesn't deserve this, neither does John." Grace replied

Lionel nodded. He was interested in the signs, "Mind if I join?"

They nodded.

"Sure." Nathan said, "Grab this end." Lionel did as he was told.

Suddenly a door opened. Kara Stanton, in handcuffs, her lawyer and an officer by Kara walked to where they were going to sit. Another door opened. John, also in handcuffs and bruised, which earned a shocked gasp from Alicia. Mr. Snow was in front of John with an officer by John's side. They all went to where they were supposed to sit. The judge started by starting what was going on. Just introduction stuff.

The judge announced for Kara's team to begin with their opening statement.

"Your honor, the defendant, Mr. John Reese, is being charged with first degree murder. He has killed the following people." The lawyer scrolls through names of 5 people. One of them was killed by John's hand, but the last name shook his head. Jessica Arndt.

'What?' John thought.

"Your honor I did not kill Jessica." John stood up.

The judge banged his gavel, "Sit down Mr. Reese." He ordered

"I DIDN'T!" John yelled

"John! Sit down!" Mr. Snow said as he pushed John down

She pushed her luck. She knew he didn't kill her. HE knew he didn't kill her.

"As I was saying, these are our charges against Mr. John Reese. Thank you." The lawyer said

The judge turned to Mr. Snow, "Mr. Snow, what are your charges against Miss. Kara Stanton?"

Mr. Snow stood up, "First degree murder, Kidnappings, Attempted Murders, and Manslaughter. Your honor, John Reese and Kara Stanton had known each other for quite some time now. My son was even involved in some of these things that these kids are being accused for. Your honor, Kara's team has no evidence of John Reese performing these acts alone. Whatever he did, she most likely did as well. Maybe more or worse."

Mr. Snow turned to Harold, "Your honor, I call Mr. Harold Finch to the stand."

Harold went up.

Mr. Snow asked him a vague question, "Mr. Finch, between the night of your high school homecoming to now, what has happened?"

Harold swallowed, "Well, on the night of homecoming, I heard from John that he couldn't find Zoe. He asked our sister to check the ladies to see if she was in there but she wasn't in there. John went outside to look for Zoe. I don't exactly know what happened other than that, but I heard from Zoe that John was stabbed. We called 911 and we all went to the hospital." Harold was beginning to recall his horrific moment, "I went to the restroom to get myself together because I was falling apart. I hear from behind me a command not to move. But I saw it was Mark Snow. He had a gun on me. He told me to pass to John that SHE won't stop, and that she has a plan, and I got confused. Before I could say anything...He shot himself." Mr. Snow closed his eyes. "Some time later, I was with John and we found out about her plan." Harold got up, "And with the school's permission, I can use this video." Harold pulled up a footage from homecoming night. He clicked play.

 _"Mark smiles, "John."_

 _John stared right back at him, "Mark. What are you doing here?"_

 _Mark didn't respond as he saw some guy come out of the shadow, restraining Zoe. John didn't recognize the man holding her. John went closer to Mark._

 _"Why harm her. You are such a loser you know that? You can't find me and talk to me like a man would, so instead you go and basically kidnap a friend." John remarks_

 _Mark cracks up, "John, I didn't do this to harm her. However I did come to talk."_

 _John looks right into John's eyes_

 _"It's time to come home John."_

 _John remained serious, "You know that'll never happen."_

 _Mark nods, but suddenly pulls out a knife and starts to fight John. John sensed his movement as easily dodged it. Mark had a couple of more friends able to come of the shadows to try to grab John. John was easily able to fight them all. But when he was distracted, Mark walked up to John and as he turned around, Mark pulled out his knife and stabbed John in the stomach. Zoe yelled as all of the guys fighting John ran away, Mark jabbed to knife deeper into John, John yelled in pain as he took his fist and hit Mark as hard as he could. Mark stumbled back in pain but he was able to get away. John collapsed on his back with the knife sticking out of him in a 90 degree angle._

 _Zoe ran outside after alerting his siblings and called 911. She tried to control John's bleeding as best she could. She can see John was about to pass out._

 _"Please John, don't leave me…"_

Harold clicked pause.

"See in the background? A shadow?" Harold asks the court, they all say yes. Harold scrolls in and clears the picture. Revealing Kara Stanton standing idol as Mark does this. The crowd gasps.

Mr. Snow stands up, "And that's not the worst of it. From the video, look at Marks belt buckle. Notice how large it is? Inside that belt buckle was a bomb controlled by Kara Stanton." Mr. Snow displayed his proof to the court. Everything just kept spilling.

Mr. Snow called Sameen to the stand, "Ms. Shaw, is it correct that you and John were watching the date between Harold Finch and Grace Hendricks?"

"Yes." Sameen clarified.

"You saw Kara enter the restaurant and fire a gun inside the restaurant?" Mr. Snow asks

Sameen held a file. Mr. Snow took it and put the pictures under a projector. Showing Kara with the gun firing into the ceiling. Kara was about to cry.

"And last but not least.." Mr. Snow started, "Project J." Mr. Snow started. Mr. Snow talked about it piece by piece. The words 'Eliminate John Reese' caught everyone's eye. The jury took a mountainful of notes. Bottom line, Kara's lawyer had nothing on John.

"Okay." The judge started, "Ending statements?"

Kara's lawyer went first, "That boy is still responsible for the death of Jessica Arndt!" He yelled. He had Nah-thing!

"How?" The judge asked, "You have to have evidence."

"He is not responsible for the death of Jessica Arndt." a voice in the back said.

Everyone turned around. John's eyes went wide to who it was.

"And how do you know?" The judge asked.

"Because I killed her." A man said with a police officer by his side and the mother of Jessica Arndt behind him with tears in her eyes. Jessica's mother stepped up to the judge. John looked at the man with pure hatred.

"Here is the case of my daughter." She simply says as she hands over the file. The judge took it. Ms. Arndt went over to John and gave him a hug as she wept into John's shoulder.

"Oh John…" She said into him. John just hugged her back

The judge looked over it, "She isn't lying. Jessica was jumped. The only thing about John in here was when he assaulted a police officer to get over to her. He paid his debt in that case." he said. He banged his gavel.

"The jury will now discuss the terms of this case, and see if I agree". With that, the jury and judge disappeared."

Ms. Arndt started to talk with John a bit.

"What are you doing here?" John asks

She rubbed a thumb across his bruised cheek, "I heard about the trial. I saw the charges against you. I was going to come no matter what but once I knew you were charged with killing Jessica. I got a hold of her killers officer and they agreed to bring him down to agree to killing her to prove you were innocent."

John looked down and then up to her, "Thank you." John said simply

She hugged him again. He hugged back.

The jury came back out again and so did the judge.

"The jury reached a verdict." The judge said. The whole court went silent. John's eyes were closed, his fists were balled. John was silently praying.

A jury member stood up, "We have found the defendant Mr. John Reese…"

"Not. Guilty." The jury member said. John released a huge breath. Kara looked pissed off, as did her mother and lawyer.

"FREE JOHN REESE! FREE JOHN REESE! FREE JOHN REESE!" Nathan, Grace, Lionel, Arthur, Zoe and Bill Szymanski all yelled in victory as they held their signs displaying that exact message. Everyone, including John, turned around to see the commotion.

"ORDER! ORDER!" The judge yelled as he banged his gavel, they were all silenced.

He held up his index finger, "One minute."

The jury member continued, "Kara Stanton has been sentenced to a Maximum Security Jail and Rikers for one lifetime. She will be transported to Rikers at the age of 21."

Nathan, Grace, Lionel, Arthur, Zoe and Bill Szymanski were ready to celebrate again. But the judge held one more finger.

"As for John Reese, we think even though he has killed but not at his own fault, he has to have some sort of consequence. We sentence John Reese for therapy for 2 years, and house arrested for one month." The jury member concluded.

'Oh fair enough!' John thought.

The judge banged his gavel. The court jumped up in glee as Kara was escorted out of the courtroom. John's parents were hugging him from behind. John stood up and hugged Harold and Sameen.

"FREE JOHN REESE! FREE JOHN REESE! FREE JOHN REESE!""FREE JOHN REESE! FREE JOHN REESE! FREE JOHN REESE!"

The judge banged his gavel again, the court was silenced.

"Outside." The judge said calmly to the chanting kids.

"FREE JOHN REESE! FREE JOHN REESE! FREE JOHN REESE!" The kids all chanted as they got up and went outside. John sweating a lot. John looked at Mr. Snow who looked at him. John held out his hand. Mr. Snow took it. An officer came over.

"We need to get your ankle bracelet on." The officer said as he picked up Reese by his arm. Mr. Snow followed them. His family waited outside for him. Mr. Snow came out a little before John.

"He's coming." Mr. Snow simply says.

Soon John comes out, uncuffed, with an officer behind him. His friends were outside cheering, with their signs. John was escorted into a police car. The officer told his parents he had to escort John home.

Harold turns to see Grace looking at him, Harold just smiles, She smiled back.

"Harold! Come on." Carter said as his family were leaving the courthouse. Harold just followed Carter to their family car. Soon, the police car and their family car left the courthouse.

 **Transition**

"Okay, so John can walk to the end of your front lawn. The backyard is fine was long he stays in it. It's fine because it's fenced." The officer told John Greer and Alicia Corwin.

"Thank you so much." Alicia said.

He nodded, "My pleasure. Have a good night folks."

The officer got in his car and drove away. Alicia and John went back into the house. Alicia and Greer went into the kitchen and looked in the back window. All of the kids were out there playing some football, even Harold was. Normally, Harold wouldn't play but he figured why not since John was home. They see Lionel catch a ball from the throw from Root and John and Sameen tackling him from the sides. Sameen takes the ball and goes to the other side of their backyard while John helps Lionel up. The families dog Bear, who the recently got, was anxious to go outside. Alicia opens the door and Bear runs out to John. John got on his knees to hug Bear, but all of a sudden Bear tackles Reese to the ground. John is trying to fight him but Bear is overpowering him. The whole family just laughs at the sight.

 **Transition**

Kara was being transported to the Maximum Security Jail for awhile. The ride was 5 hours long they told her. 'How could she have dropped her guard so much?' She gave John the upper hand on a silver platter. She was thinking for a bit more until she saw bright lights head her way. She couldn't react it was too late. The car was hit and it tumbled down a hill. Once at the bottom, someone stepped out of the car and opened the back. She checked Kara's pulse. Nothing. 'Perfect.' They thought.

 **TBC.**

 _Phew! Well that is that. Kinda more lengthy than the others. The reason I'm updating this so close to the other one is because I don't know when I'm going to upload more because I'm so busy this week. Spent the whole day on this so that's good. Brought Bear into the picture now. I feel bad I didn't do it earlier. To be honest, at the end of the previous chapter I never planned to have John arrested. It just happened. So enjoy!!! To explain the ending, remember Kara's number?_


	13. Chapter 13: Shame

**Summary**

\- _John is adjusting back to his "normal" routine, however still house arrested . Some of Harolds peers are unhappy with him._

 **Transition**

"How is John by the way?" One of John's teachers asks Harold as he collects his classwork and homework.

"He is okay, as far as I know." Harold responded. He looked up at the teachers who had a confused expression.

Harold smiles, "He's taking it day by day."

The teacher smiles, "Send John my best."

"Of course." Harold said as he walked out

Harold walked out of the school building, only to be rammed in the wall

"Hi Harold." Rick says right in Harolds face

"Rick." Harold says simply, trying to forget that Rick spit in his face.

"I believe you owe me $200 for my services."

"Well you didn't fulfill my request, so you did not use any services therefore I will not pay you." Harold says not backing down

Rick pulls out a knife and holds it to Harold's neck, "I'll give you one more day. Or else, I'll have your throat. Oh, and Harold?"

Harold still looks at him again. Rick quickly takes Harolds hand and slices it with his knife, Harold looks down with his wide eyes as red appears in a line across his hand. Rick wiped the blade and walked away

'Is everyone in this school homicidal and or psychopathic?' Harold asks himself. Harold knew Nathan was right not to trust Rick. He quickly took out a pocket square and held it to his hand.

Harold decided to quickly go home and clean his cut.

Harold walks into his home and goes straight to the bathroom. He runs his hand under the faucet. He cringes as the water hits dead on the cut and red swirls down the drain. Harold sighs as he figures out how to deal with this situation.

All of a sudden, someone enters the room. Harold turned his head to see who it was…

"Harry, what happened?" Root asked

Harold sighs, "Nothing, Sam. Doesn't anyone knock."

"Do they ever lock the door?" Root said as she aggressively takes his hand.

"Ah! Ms. Groves, easy." Harold says grimacing in pain.

"What happened?" Root asks more sternly

He yanks his hand away from her grasp, "I fell." Harold goes to a cabinet and gets some gauze.

"Pretty big cut for a small fall." Root inquires

"Who said it was a small fall?"

Root smiled, "Do Mom and Dad know?"

"Why do they need to know? As long as it doesn't need tending that I can't provide, I say I'm good." Harold replies

"Root, Hanna Frey is here. Says you two are doing homework together." Shaw says from the doorway.

Root slowly got up, "We'll talk about this later Harry." Root says as she exits

'There's nothing to talk about.' Harold thinks to himself

Harold goes to his room where Reese is on his bunk with earbuds in and listening to music. Harold takes out Reese's work from his backpack and brings it over to John and plops it on his lap.

John takes a earbud out as he notices the items and Harold just limping away.

"What's your deal today Finch?" John asks

Harold picks up his backpack, "A lot on my mind." He says as he walks out. John quickly hops down and follows Harold. He notices the look Root shot him from the table as Harold left out the door. John went for the door quickly as well.

"Remember you can't go past the front lawn." Root says from a chair.

"Yeah." John simply says. He looks out the door. Harold was at the end of the driveway. He decided not to go out. John turns to Root/

"Did he seem...off to you?" John asked root

Root nodded hesitantly, "When he came home, he was bleeding."

John looked at her, "What happened?"

Root shrugged, "He said he fell."

John looked toward the door, "Should we talk to him when he gets back?"

"You know he'll deny everything we tell him. But we'll see." Root said as she went back to her algebra."

John walked back to his room

 **Transition**

Harold was walking to Nathan's house. He promised they'd work on the machine and since Arthur was back, they'd get more done.

Harold walked into someone, again. It was James Stills, one of Lionel's "friends" who Harold did not trust.

"Well Harold. Long time no see." Stills greets

"James." Harold greets back

"Uh is Lionel home by any chance?" James asks

Harold nodded, "I think so. What are you planning to do tonight?"

James doesn't say anything but walked forward, "See you around, Finch." Stills said as he walked away.

Finch eventually made it to Nathan's garage. When he went in he was met with a sympathetic Arthur and Nathan.

"Something you'd like to say to me guys?" Harold asked

"We saw what Rick did to you after school." Arthur said

Harold looked at them with no change in expression, "It was just a talk."

"And slicing a hand in the process." Nathan said

"He's just a jerk who performs malicious acts. I don't care about it." Harold responded

"Your lucky I don't tell your parents about this. I really should. And your siblings too."

"Oh please no." Harold begged, "John and Sam are drilling me for answers as it is. I don't need any unneeded concern."

Nathan looked at Harold uneasy, "Well why is he on your case?"

"He thinks I owe him $200 for asking for his help monitoring Kara." Harold responded

"Well, do you?" Arthur asked

Harold shakes his head, "It was the agreement. He would watch Kara and tell me if she was close to John, for $200. Next thing I know, she's at me and Grace's date! I don't owe him anything because he didn't hold up his end of the deal"

"How was the date?" Arthur asked

"Horrible, thanks for asking." Harold responded sarcastically

"Look." Nathan started, "I know your pissed. You have to tell someone. He is a problem that won't go away."

Harold looked desperate to change the subject, "How's the machine coming?" Harold got up to work on his computer. Nathan stopped him.

"Harold. We care about you. You need to stand up to this guy and-"

"Oh you really think I can!? Remember the last time I had the slightest idea to defend myself? I ended up in the hospital with spinal injuries that are probably going to affect me for the rest of my life!" Harold got up and went to the garage door.

"Where are you going?" Nathan yelled behind him

"I have work to do. I don't need to do it here." Harold said as he left

Nathan silently swore and went to his phone. He started to type.

"What are you doing?" Arthur asked

"I am texting...Zoe Morgan." Nathan said

Arthur was confused, "Why her?"

"To get John's number." Nathan responded

Arthur's eyes went wide, "But Harold said-"

"Harold is going to get killed by this psycho unless someone does something. I knew he shouldn't have trusted Rick Dillinger."

"And you trust John? Remember he did kill people in his former years-" Arthur started

"John has a heavy heart. But do you see the way he is around Harold. Ever since finding out about his disability, he got protective." Nathan mentioned

"But he is house arrested?" Arthur said

Nathan puts his phone down, "That's right." Nathan runs a hand over his face. He needed a new plan.

 **Transition (7pm)**

Lionel was out with Stills and Azarello in a little cafe. Apparently there was another gig.

"So apparently, this one is different." Stills started

"How so?" Lionel asked

Azarello held up a hand, "Wait James, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Stills rolls his eyes and him and Azarello stand up to go to a corner. Leaving Lionel at the table.

"Are we sure we should let Lionel in on this? After all we are helping this Rick guy kill his brother."

James laughed, "You don't see it?"

Azarello shakes his head.

"We are going to get rid of Lionel too in the process. He's holding us back. We are going to make him watch as we kill his brother. And kill him right afterwards." James filled in

"Yeah, yeah okay." Azarello said hesitantly as he looked between Harold and Jimmy. He had a bad feeling about this.

"Okay, so we are picking up a package at the old corner." James said as if it were a drug deal, "Lionel, you will just stand by and make everything goes right."

Lionel shook his head, "Nah. I told you after that last one, I want no part of it. You tried to KILL ME! I should go to the cops." Fuscos whispered yelled

James shushed him in a loud way, "Would ya shut up. We were high. I don't mean it."

Lionel nodded, "Yes you did." Lionel says as he gets up and walks to the door.

James followed him and gently got in his ear, "I'll go after your brother." He whispered.

Lionel whipped around, "Leave my family out of this. Plus John is house arrested. Ya can't get to him."

James smiled, "Who said it was John?"

Lionel looked angry, "What does Harold have to do with anything in this?"

James shrugged, "Still want to take that chance?"

Lionel didn't respond, but James's phone rang. He turned to Azarello and motioned to him that it was time to go.

"So are you in or out?" James asked

"Let's go." Fusco said. He didn't want his family to suffer for this.

They all walked out of the cafe

 **Transition**

Harold was walking home from the library. He got a sencha green tea as he was walking. He spent the majority of his time in a library to decompress from the incidents that happened earlier that day. His phone beeped. It was from Rick.

 _'Can you meet me?'_ Rick texted

 _'Why?'_ Finch responded

 _'To discuss terms. Maybe have a compromise.'_

Harold was hesitant, _'When and Where?'_ he texted back

 _'Now. Corner of 5th and Illinois.'_

 _'Okay.'_ Harold responded. He was on his way to meet Rick.

 **Transition**

Nathan was getting concerned. Harold was ignoring his texts. Maybe something happened. Arthur left some time earlier. But Nathan was just thinking about how stupid Harold was for trusting the creep!

He decided to get his jacket and shoes on and go make amends with Harold at his house. He never texted Zoe now knowing that John can't do anything.

He made his way to Harold's house. He knocked on the door. Root answered the door.

"Hi Nathan." She greeted

"Hi." He greets back, "Is Harold home by any chance."

Root shook her head, "Last time we saw him he was going to your house."

Nathan sighed and thought about what to try next.

"Where is Harold?" Root asked

"If I knew that I wouldn't be here. We had an argument and he stormed out. Haven't seen him since he left."

Root got out her phone and texted Finch asking where he was. He responded with Nathan. She responded that he was at their front door asking where he was. Finch never responded after that.

"He said he was with you." Root told Nathan

"I hope he's not with Rick." Nathan said under his breath

"What does he have to do with this?" Root asked because she heard him

Nathan rubbed a hand over his face. He decided to tell Root everything, "Arthur and I saw Harold after school with Rick. And he was all in Harolds face and when he left, he cut Harold. Apparently Harold owes Rick $200."

Root didn't look surprised, "I knew he didn't fall."

Nathan shrugged, "What do we do?"

Shaw came down the stairs, "Anyone know where Lionel is? He was supposed to play me in basketball."

Root shook her head, not really caring. "No I don't."

"Where's Harold?" Shaw then asked seeing Nathan in the doorway

"We don't know." Nathan responded

 **Transition**

Harold was arriving at the corner. He stopped midway, looking for Rick. No sign of him. He was going to wait for Rick to be seen first. He had a bad feeling about this.

Rick was waiting in an alley nearby. He had a syringe he got from Stills. Apparently it had a substance to make someone tired. After that, he was going to demand the money. If refused, Harold was going to die.

Fusco, Stills, and Azarello were arriving to where they'd collect the 'package.' When they didn't see anyone Stills texted Rick, asking him what's going on? Fusco received a text. It was from Harold.

 _'What are you doing here? And why are you with them? Do you remember what happened last time?'_ The text read

Fusco looked around, he didn't see anything, _'You can see me? Why are you here?'_ he responded

 _'I asked you first'_ Harold texted back

 _'We have a meeting with someone, what about you?'_ Lionel texted

 _'Talking with Rick.'_ Harold responded

"Well, we have to wait." James said, "The package hasn't arrived yet."

"Just who are we waiting for anyway?" Lionel asked

"Rick Dillinger." Azarello responded

Lionel's eyes went wide. 'Was Harold the package?' he thought

He texted Finch again, _'Why are you meeting Rick?'_

 _'Compromising. Now why are you with them?'_ Finch responded

 _'They just told me we are waiting for Rick, with a package.'_ Lionel told Finch. Ignoring his question.

Finch looked at the text and shook his head. He was going to have Stills and Azarello kill him if he didn't give him the money. Harold texted Lionel to delete their texts. Harold then decided to text Rick. Calling off the meeting.

 _'I will not be played like a fool Mr. Dillenger. The meeting is off. Permanently.'_ Harold texted Rick

 _'Why? What happened?'_ Rick texted back

 _'You can call off Stills and Azarello.'_ Harold simply said

Rick looked at the text and cursed loudly. Someone squeaked. Rick came out of the alley and went to Stills, Azarello and Fusco.

"Someone spilled. Harold called off the meeting and knew about you three. Maybe Fusco spilled." Rick said

Fusco didn't say anything.

"He didn't even know Harold was involved. So you just blew it." James said

Rick looked at him, "You-yo didn't know?" He stuttered

Fusco shook his head, "What does Harold have to do with this? Did you know? He asked Stills and Dillinger

James, Azarello, and Dillinger exchanged glances before Rick took the syringe and quickly went to Fusco. Fusco backed up before someone came behind him and tackled him to the ground. The syringe was out of Rick's reach. The tackler was no other than Shaw. Fusco took the syringe and gave to Azarello right before he was about to run. Azarello fell to the ground. Stills went to punch Lionel but he dodged. Meanwhile, Shaw was banging Ricks head in the ground, knocking him out. Shaw quickly joined the fight of Fusco and Stills. Stills pushed over Fusco and while Shaw got a few hits on him, Stills punched Shaw making her band her head on a fire hydrant. She was still conscious. Lionel punched Stills which made him back up a couple of feet. He retaliated by hitting Fusco over and over again. He kicked Lionel hard that Lionel was on his back. Stills then got out a little pistol he had. He held it to Fusco.

"I should've done this so long ago." Stills said as he held the gun in Lionel

Lionel closed his eye getting ready to the shot. But suddenly another pop went off. Lionel opened an eye and saw Stills falling over. Fusco got out of the way and stills fell to the ground. Fusco saw a dart in the back of his neck.

'Tranquilizer.' Lionel thought he looked where the dart came from, he saw nothing.

Lionel heard a groan. He looked and saw Shaw struggling to get up. Lionel went to help her.

"What are you doing here?" Lionel asked as he helped Shaw get to her feet.

Shaw pulled out her phone, "You very trackable. When I saw this I thought something was going down. Without me."

Lionel smiled, "Are you good though?"

Shaw nodded, "Yeah of course. Just a bump."

Lionel was looking around the street.

"What are you looking for?" Shaw asked

"Glasses. He was here." Lionel responded

 **Transition**

Lionel and Shaw eventually made it back home. Greer, Corwin, Nathan, Root, Reese, Carter were all waiting on the couch. Greer went up to look over Shaw. He thought she had a concussion. He checked Lionel quickly and he had he just had some bad cuts.

"I'm going to take her to the hospital." Greer said as he took Shaw to the car.

"Lionel, what happened? And where is Harold?" Alicia asked

Lionel sighed and sat down and explained the tale. Not leaving one detail out.

 **Transition**

Harold was walking the streets. He couldn't help thinking all this was his fault. He shouldn't have never gotten Rick involved. That led to a war on his behalf. Harold felt like he was going to throw up. Harold dragged his friends and family into this war. Harold took his dart gun and threw it in anger. He may have saved Lionel's life but this was a short time resolution. He can't go home, not yet at least. Harold went to deal with his shame.

 **TBC.**

 _My poor Finch. I feel like I'm being cruel to all these characters. Oh well, thank goodness it's an AU. If the writers of this show were actually this cruel to all the characters. I would run out of tears by 2 episodes._


	14. Chapter 14: Missing Finch

**_Summary - Harold leaves his family thinking about what his decisions have done for his family, and maybe the effect the machine would have; Kara's number surprisingly goes away_**

 _A/N - Since this is my AU i'm going to change the background of some of the characters for a little. Just so you know. Oh, and there is swearing._

 **Transition**

Harold was driving his car on a highway. Harold has been away from his family for two days now. He doesn't know if they are looking for him because he ditched his phone. Harold bought a new car, with the funds the machine has provided. Harold noticed this when he did start building the machine and he wanted to know where it got the money from but he didn't care at the moment. He just cared about getting away.

Pretty soon, Harold ended up in Iowa. His childhood state. Harold pulled up in front of his old house where he lived before he was put in the system. There was a 'for sale' sign on the lawn. Harold went up to the front door. There was one of those realtor locks on it. He easily opened it. Harold walked into his house. He looks around. All the furniture has been moved but the wall paper remains the same. His mind was flooded with memories. His mom died after Harold was born but his Dad didn't die until he was 10. His father died of Alzheimer's. Harold shudders at the memory. He goes upstairs to his old childhood room. He looks confused as his room was still the same it was when he left it. He figured all it would be all cleaned up for the sale. He sees his old bed, old clothes...His old computer. His homemade one he built. Harold sat at his old desk where his computer laid. He plugged it in and powered it on. It worked. That surprised him. He logged in and saw all of his previous coding. Harold was scrolling through. Just reminiscing. He saw his old notebook too. He built his computer when he was about 8 and Harold smiled looking at his 8 year old handwriting. Harold was looking through some old files. He found a video. It was labeled unnamed. He clicked on it.

'Hi.' The video started, 'My name is Harold Finch. I am 10 years old. And it is a day before father's day. My Dad does a lot for me. It's been us two my whole life. He has never dated since my Mom. But I'm making this video to tell my gift for my dad. I'm just making memories. I'm making him a computer so he can remember the things to do. He has a lot on his plate with work and me so I figured this would help. He's having a bit of a memory problem' Young Harold then demonstrates his creation. The video end. Harold then shuts down his computer and puts it away. He decides to take it home with him. Harold goes into his father's room, which is still intact. He sees the homemade computer-calendar. He takes that, some photos of him and his Dad. He puts it all in his car. Seeing how late the time is, Harold decides to sleep in his old room for the night.

 **Transition**

"Are you sure there's nothing- But how about?-" Alicia sighs over the phone, "Thank you." She hangs up. "Not really." She added once she hung up.

"Are you still calling?" Greer says from the stairs

Alicia nods, "He's our son, John. My question is, why aren't you?"

Greer looked at the watch, "Well it's 2:30 in the morning. I figured staying up all night and declining my health wasn't going to bring him back."

Alicia puts her head in her hands.

"Look." Greer began, "I'm just as worried as you are. But Lionel doesn't think Harold was kidnapped. Harold has had it rough lately, he needed some time to clear his head. He'll be back. I know he will."

Alicia starts to cry, "God, I hope so."

John Reese was listening on the stairs nearby. He was also worried about Finch. He was wondering if this had anything to do with the machine he told him about awhile ago. Or maybe he's stressed with everything going on.

John didn't realize his daydreaming almost caused him to fall and made a bit of noise on the rebound.

"John, you can come down." Greer said from the kitchen

John silently swore and made his way downstairs.

He sat at the counter with his mother.

"Why are you up?" Alicia asks

"Can't sleep." John responded. He didn't bother asking her why she was up because the answer was obvious.

"You know, we've always tried to make it a priority to make sure that you kids can talk to us. You know that you can right?" Alicia asked John

He nodded, "Of course. But I don't think Harold left because he doesn't trust you. I mean, if he asked you 'Hey can I run away for awhile?' what would you have said?"

"But 2 days and no phone call?! Not even to let us know he was okay? That is unacceptable." Greer mentioned

John nodded, "Yeah, I agree. But he will be back."

Greer nodded and put a hand on John's shoulder, "I agree."

 **Transition**

Harold woke up to sun right in his eye. He stretched his bad leg out, made his bed, and went to the window to look out it. He saw a car next to his car.

"Okay, so here we have the foyer. Nice room for a big family.." Harold heard from downstairs

'Oh no.' Harold thought.

"Shall we see the upstairs?" The realtor asked. Harold looked around. He looked out his window. He wasn't going to jump without causing commotion. He quickly went into the closet and closed the doors. At that moment, the realtor and family went into his room.

"All the stuff is still here?" A woman asked

"Yes, but it will all be moved. But this room is an example of an nice, average sized room for any child or teenager."

'Don't check the closet, don't check the closet…' Harold pleaded in his head

"And this closet has excellent space."

'Damn…' Harold thought

As the realtor opened the door. Harold tried to look as not-scary as possible. The realtor gasped and the women screamed and the husband pushed around her to see what it was.

"Sorry, so sorry." Harold immediately apologized

"Who are you?" The man said

Harold thought for a moment, "Martin. I promised my parents I'd take a look in case we were thinking of buying."

"Did you make an appointment?" The realtor asked

"Yes, but no one was here. I decided to take a look for myself." Harold responded

"How'd you get past the lock?" The realtor asked

"There wasn't a lock. Was there one when you came?" Harold asked

The realtor shook her head, "No, there wasn't. You know this is considered breaking and entering. I have to call the cops." The realtor said

"Wait…" Harold said as she began dialing

"Wait, realtor." The woman spoke up, "Let him go, what is he like, 16?"

The realtor thought for a moment, "Okay, Martin. You can go. Just don't come in next time without a realtor."

Harold nodded, "Of course. And I'm sorry." Harold turned to the lady who bailed him out, "Thank you."

She nodded, "Your welcome."

Harold turned on his way out, "If you do buy this house, please take good care of it." Harold walked out, got in his car, gave his old home a final glance, and he drove away.

Harold went into a city part of Iowa, he stopped at a coffee place for a cup of tea. Harold pulled over on the curb. He looked at a payphone. Harold got out and went to the phone. He got out and put a few coins into the phone. He had a phone call to make.

 **Transition**

The family at the home were eating breakfast. It was Saturday so everyone was off. Alicia was still not sleeping. The whole family saw it. Once they knew Harold was okay, they were gonna kill him.

"Hey Shaw, you want to play some basketball?" Carter asked Shaw once she was done.

Shaw nodded, "Sure." They both got up and were going to the door. When there home phone rang

Shaw answered it, "Hello?"

The whole family paid no mind.

"Harold?" Shaw suddenly said

The whole family turned. Greer and Corwin went to the phone.

Harold must've said something because Shaw held up a hand.

"John, it's for you." Shaw said

John got up. But Greer beat him to the phone

"Give me the phone!" Greer yelled. He took it from Shaw and held it to his ear, "Hello? Harold!" He said. "Hello.." Greer waited, "Damn it! He hung up."

Alicia closed her eyes at her husbands impatience.

"What did he say?" Greer demanded out of Sameen

"He asked for John. That is literally it." Sameen said

John's pocket rang, it was an unknown number. Greer and Corwin were both looking at him. John answered the phone.

'Hello, John." Harold said

"Harold. How are you? Are you okay?" John asks

"I'm fine. Perhaps I should've called sooner." Harold mentioned

John laughed a bit, "Yeah, things are a bit tense here." He looks at his parents. Greer wanted to take that phone but Corwin held him back.

"Well, tell them I'm fine." Harold said

"I will. Is there anything else? You specifically requested me." John asked

Harold thought for a moment, "No. Take care John." Harold hung up

John made a face and put his phone away.

"What did he say?" Greer asked

"He's fine. He said to tell all of you that." John responded

"When is he coming home?" Alicia asked

"He...never said that." John hesitated

"Don't you think you should've asked!?" Greer yelled

John had no change in expression.

"John, calm down." Alicia said talking to Greer

Greer couldn't. He left the house, slammed the door behind him. Got in his car and left.

"Is everyone doing that these days?" Lionel asked referring to the fact that his Dad just did what Harold did. Root threw a piece of bacon at him. Lionel just ate it.

 **Transition**

Harold pulled up to a cemetery. He got some flowers and he went to his Dad's headstone. He put the flowers on it. It started to rain. Harold didn't notice. He just looked at the headstone. He had no idea how long he stood there for.

Harold soon got into his car and drove out of Iowa. He had one final destination before he decided to go home.

Harold reached the jail. He wanted to see Kara Stanton. Harold walked up to the front desk.

"Hello. My name is Harold Wren and I am here to see Kara Stanton." Finch told her.

"Ms. Stanton was declared dead 3 days ago. She was killed on route to the jail. She was critical for about a day but she didn't make it." The lady told him

Harold checked his phone, her number wasn't there. He was too late.

"I'm sorry. What is your relation to Kara?" The lady asked

"An old friend." Harold said as he walked out

 **Transition**

Harold soon drove back into New York. He returned his car to the dealership and he walked to a bridge. He walked onto the bridge and just looked into the water. He failed Kara. She was the victim.

A car pulled up. It was Greer's car.

"Harold?" Greer said as he walked toward the bridge.

"Hello." Harold said awkwardly.

Greer hurried to Harold who was on the bridge. He went and hugged him. Harold returned it.

"What are you doing here?" Greer asked

"Thinking." Harold said

"You can't think in your room?" Greer asked, a bit comically

Harold didn't say anything.

"Harold. Do you feel like you can't come to your mother or me."

"No, I don't feel like that. I just like to think my own thoughts. Solve it on my own. It has nothing to do with you or Mom." Harold responded

Greer breathed, "I wish you could've called. Your mother hasn't slept in 3 days."

Harold closed his eyes, ashamed.

Greer saw what he has done, "Let's not worry about that now. Let's go home."

Harold wanted to stay longer but he realized his actions did affect his family. So he and Greer went home. Not one word was said on the way. Harold was confused. How did Greer know he was there.

They pulled in the driveway, Greer went ahead of Harold.

The family was on the couch. Lionel shifted on the couch between John and Sameen. He accidently kicked Sameen.

"What was that for?" Sameen asked

"What?" Lionel asked

"You kicked me. With your foot. That's a part of your body." Sameen said, in a condescending tone

"No I didn't." Lionel replied

"Yes. You. Did." Sameen said as she gritted her teeth

"No. I. Didn't." Lionel said in the same way

Sameen kicked him.

Lionel kicked her back.

John was just sitting here wishing he wasn't there.

"Enough!" Alicia yelled, "We have more important issues here. Stop acting like children." Lionel and Sameen continued giving each other dirty looks

The door opened. Greer walked in.

"John! How could you think of walking out knowing everything that's going on with Harold?" Alicia asked

Harold walked in at that moment. The whole family stood up.

Alicia ran over to him, "Oh Harold…" She sobbed into him

Harold hugged her back. Alicia ran and hand over his face. She gathered herself and just looked him over.

"Are you okay?" Alicia asked

Harold nodded, "Yes. I'm sorry."

Alicia holds up a hand, "I want to talk to you about everything. And I mean everything. But you smell like you haven't showered in 3 days." She feels the side of his face, "And you need to shave. We will talk later."

Harold sighs. "Yes,ma'am."

Harold excuses himself to catch up on his hygiene.

Once Harold showered, he went downstairs where his mother was. Greer was apparently making sure the other 5 won't eavesdrop.

Harold sat down next to Alicia, who looked at him with a straight face.

"Harold, I don't know where to start. First, you left without so much as a phone call or note, second, I hear of a fight breaking out a couple days ago which involved Shaw and Lionel and that you were nowhere to be found. You can jump in here at anytime Harold."

Harold sighed, "things have just been tense with...school, and all. I just went to clear my head for a bit. I know I should've called. I just...Don't know what to say. I'm sorry."

Alicia sighed, "You know Kara Stanton died on her way to the jail?"

Harold nodded, "Yes. Why?"

"Did...You have anything to do with that?" Alicia asked hesitantly

Harold looked up, with tears in his eyes, "What?" He asked in shock, "How could you think that?"

Alicia sighed, "Grace, as well as Nathan and Arthur, were concerned you wanted revenge on Kara Stanton for what she did to you, Grace, John, even Mark Snow."

Harold was still baffled, "But to harm Kara? I'd never-"

"Then explain Rick Dillenger." Alicia cut in

Harold sighs, "He was meant to make sure Kara wouldn't do anything."

Alicia sighed, "What would she do?"

Harold looked at her in the eye, "You know, the 'Kill John' plan."

"But how did you know? Did John tell you?" Alicia asked

"Yeah." Harold responded

Alicia sighed, "None of my kids can be normal." She ran a hand over her face, "You can go, but we talked about your punishment. Your grounded. 3 weeks. No TV, no computer, friends, your phone is blocked for everything except call and text to me or your Dad."

Harold didn't say anything. He just went up to bed. Frustrated. Lionel and John just watched him from their bunks. Not one word exchanged. Hopefully, things begin to get more normal.

 **TBC.**

 _We all know nothing is normal for this crew. Sorry for the hiatus. Work has been crazy. Hopefully more will be out soon!!!!_


	15. Chapter 15: 1 Year Ago

**_Summary - The family celebrates the one-year anniversary John came to live with them; Harold is forced to ask for John's assistance when the machine gives the team a number, even though the machine is not fully reliable. But Harold and Nathan knows that there is only one way to know if the number is legitimate._**

 _A/N - One year ago today, I posted chapter one of this series, any yet, there are only 15 chapters...hard at work, (and also, some swearing…...if you count hell as a bad word)_

 **TRANSITION**

"Wonderboy?" a distant voice called to John

John grunted and slowly woke up in his bed to see who dared to wake wake up John on this bright Saturday morning. He opens his eyes and sees Lionel hovering over him, on the top bunk of the bed. John thought he was gonna die for a minute.

"Morning." Lionel says looking down at John, while his left leg is touching his right leg

"Lionel…" John starts

"Yeah?" Lionel replies

"Get. Off. Of. Me." John says in a slow, deep voice

Lionel takes a moment before he replies.

"Yeah…..yeah, okay."

Lionel slowly went down the ladder and John followed him. But when made his way to the final step, John turned and saw Lionel standing at the door.

"Need something, Lionel?" John asked

Lionel said nothing except slowly turned his lips into a smile and slowly made his way out of the shared bedroom.

Weird….. John thought.

John got dressed in a blue button-up shirt with a pair of black jeans with a black belt. He took his time to brush his teeth, put on his cologne, rinse his hair and gel it up. He had no reason for getting dressed up, but this was the norm for John. Once John finished getting ready, he looked in the mirror. The day before today, John was finally allowed to leave outside his lawn. He would be going to school that Monday, and all was well.

For now, at least John thought.

John made his way downstairs. He stopped midway down the stairs. It was unusually quiet. So John slowly made his way down the stairs. He saw his family, everyone, watching TV.

"Good morning, everyone." John says as he stepped onto the floor.

John got nervous for a minute. His whole family snapped their necks and looked at John before everyone got up. His father swore, and they all got party favors and blew into them and yelled…

"Happy 1 year day!!!" The family yelled

John was confused…….

"Wha-What?" John asked

"Happy one year day." Sameen replied

"You came to live with us one year ago today." Harold explained, "We all had it. Me, Lionel, Samantha, Sameen, Carter. We all had a one year day when we came to live with Mom and Dad."

"Is that so?" John asked

"Yup." Lionel said, popping the P.

"So, what would you like to do today?" Carter asked

John thought about it...

"Just….hang in?" John asked

"Just...hang in?" Lionel asked

John nodded

"No, we are not going to do that." Harold said, "We, the kids would always take the 1 year kid out to do something. So, what would it be John?"

John thought about it, again. He looked at his parents before walking to Shaw. He whispered something in her ear. It can't be good because Shaw smiled with pleasure.

Shaw nodded, "Let's do it." Shaw took the keys from Harold and got her leather jacket before walking out. John follows silently. And all the kids looked at each other before following John and Shaw out, except Harold.

"Watch them?" Alicia asks Harold

Harold nodded, "Yeah, of course." Harold silently walked out

They all squished in Harold's car. It was one of those cars where you could have three seats in the front and in the back, so all 6 children could fit. Harold in the drivers, Carter to his right, and John in the passengers, with Shaw, Root, and Lionel in the back.

Harold pulls out of the driveway and starts driving.

"So, you never said where we were going." Harold said to John

"We're goin' to the shooting range!" Shaw answered for him

Harold quickly pulled over and stopped.

"What?" He asks exchanging looks between John and Shaw

John said real casually, "The shooting range. You asked what I wanted to do, that's what I want to do."

Harold sighed, "Is that a good idea? Like...at all?"

John nodded, "What's wrong with it?"

Harold looked at him, "Oh I don't know, maybe because it is a GUN!"

Carter leaned to John, "He is not a gun fan."

"I figured." John replied

Harold sighed, "But we did ask. To the range it is."

Everyone except Harold cheered.

 **Transition**

John, Shaw, Carter, and Root were preparing for their first round of shooting. Lionel decided to sit with Harold.

"You don't want to fire lead projectiles at paper outlines of humans, Mr. Fusco?" Harold asked.

"Nah. I know how to shoot a gun and plus, I've been here more times than I can count with Stills."

Harold shook his head. He was not a fan of their little posse, but Harold figured Lionel had to make his own decisions. Even the bad ones. He had to learn.

"Want a hotdog?" Lionel asked as he got up

"No thank you Mr. Fusco. But you really should watch your intake of cholesterol.

Lionel scoffed, "What are we, dating?" He made his way to the tiny food hut.

Harold looked to where his siblings were shooting. Sameen was betting with John about who could get more headshots.

His phone rang, Harold answered it. It was Nathan.

"Yes, Nathan?" Harold asked

"Harold, we got a number, from the machine." Nathan said on the other line

"Nathan...The number cannot be legitimate. The machine isn't even fully reliable. "

"It was right about Kara, wasn't it? Come on, you and I both know that there is only one way to find out if the machine is right."

Harold sighed, "On my way." he hung up.

He slowly made his way up to his siblings.

"I must run an errand, for mom. Can you guys walk or take the bus home?" Harold asked

"Yeah, I got my card and cash." Carter replied

Harold nodded and made his way out.

Shaw just shrugged and resumed shooting.

Eventually all the siblings did the same.

 **Transition**

Harold walked into the Nathan's garage.

"Okay Nathan, talk to me."

Nathan began, "Okay, this is Dion Marks. He is a sophomore at our highschool. He has average grades. An A, couple B's, and a C. He lives with his mother and according to other students, he is the class junkie. He sells other stuff...Including guns."

Harold looked up at him, "Maybe a sale gone wrong? Maybe authorities figured out he has been selling these things illegally?"

Nathan nodded, "It could be. There is only one way to find out. We need to get eyes and ears on Dion."

"Oh and how do you think we would do that?" Harold asked, "In case you haven't noticed, we are not built to stop a drug deal gone wrong. What about Arthur?"

Nathan shook his head, "He went back to his school year abroad program."

Harold sighed, "Then who are we gonna get?"

Nathan smiled before pulling out a small picture of someone from his back pocket.

Harold took the picture and his eyes went wide...It was John's at the school picture day.

"No." Harold said, "Not him."

"Then who?" Nathan asked, "Rick Dillenger?"

Harold shuddered at that name.

"We got no one else. Based on what you said about him, he is our best bet. You said Sameen was a merciless sociopath, Root just freaks you out, Lionel would get shot, and Carter was too much of a goody two shoes." Nathan told him

Harold looked at John's picture.

"...Okay." He says hesitantly. "I'll call him."

At the range, the kids decided to sit down and get a drink. John's phone rang. He asnwered.

"Harold, why did you leave here in such a hurry?" John asked

"John. Can you come to my friends house? I need to talk to you about something." Harold responded from the phone.

"What's going on?" John asked. All his siblings were chatting away not paying attention.

"Can you come or not?" Harold asked

John sighed, "Yeah, I'll be there."

John got up and that grabbed the attention of his siblings.

"Where are you going?" Carter asked

"Harold needs me to help him with his…..errands." John replied

"Want us to come?" Lionel asked

"Uhh. No thanks." John replied as he left.

 **Transition**

John follow the directions Harold have him to Nathan's house. He knocked on the garage door. Nathan opened it.

"John. Nice to finally see you." Nathan said to John

John nodded and walked in after Nathan invited him in. He looked for Harold and saw his at a circular table with computers.

"Harold, what's going on?" John asked

Harold turned to him.

"John, I told you about the machine. I told you about the numbers, the people and all, right?" Harold asked

John nodded, yes.

"Well. As you know, we don't know whether the person is a victim or perpetrator. We need to know what our numbers into, and then we figure out how to stop it." Harold said

"So...what do you need from me?" John asked

"Your eyes and ears." Nathan responded, "You are a very well-abled teenager. We have faith you can get the information we need."

John nodded. Little did they know that John was excited for this.

Transition

John walked down the sidewalk, in his sunglasses, toward the number's apartment. Nathan and Harold filled him in with the information they knew. It was up to John to find out his plans, and to stop or protect him.

John made his way up to the apartment. He picked the lock of the door with ease. He gave a quick scan and quietly entered the apartment when he discovered no one was home.

John tapped his ear, "I'm in, Finch."

"Okay Mr. Reese." Finch responded "Look around his apartment, his room preferably, and see if you can find any clues that leads to any plans or anything he is involved in."

John tapped his ear again and began searching. He hasn't found much except bills, late bills. What really caught his eye was a Notice to Quit. His family have 2 weeks to leave their home. Now John understands why this kid is selling illegal items. He is just trying to keep his home.

John taps his ear, "Finch, I found something."

"A Notice to Quit, John. I heard you talking to yourself." Harold responded

John looked up, "You were listening?"

"Always." Harold responded

John shook his head. He was startled when he heard the door unlock. He hid in a closet.

Nice thinking He thought to himself.

"Yo! Look at this stuff!" John heard a voice

"Money!" Another yelled

Robbers. John Thought But why did they sound so young?

He peeked out of the closet and saw a bunch of, what it appeared to be, punk kids. John shook his head.

"This is what Dion gets for selling us cheap crack!" A guy takes a bat to the coffee table.

"Yo let's see what's in the closet." Another kid said

John smiled, here we go.

When the closet doors opened, John smiled to a shocked face.

"This is not your house." John said to the kid

The kid tried to take a swing at John but, of course, John blocked his punch and countered him with a punch that knocked him to the ground. When the other kids saw, they all tried to team up to fight John. John beat them all with ease. Some of the kids were knocked out by the end of the fight, but he left one conscious. He took the kid by the back of his shirt and threw him against the wall. John took out a pocket knife and held it to the kid's neck.

"What are you doing here? And what do you want with Dion?" John asked

The kid looked at John, "Who are you?"

John considered the answer, "You can call me a concerned third party. Now answer my questions!" He pressed the knife closer, making the kid bleed a little.

"OKAY OKAY!" He yelled, John let up, a little, "He sold us cheap crack. We wanted to get even. So tonight, we have plans with another group to kill him. He is really a waste of space."

"Does this group in this room plan to be there?" John asked

The kid shook his head, "No, I'm involved with two groups. The other one is luring Dion to an abandoned warehouse. They plan to kill him at 6."

John looked at his wrist. His eyes went wide. 5:30 was the time.

John got madder, "Where is this warehouse?!" John yelled getting the knife closer to the kid's neck."

"ON THE CORNER OF MARKET AND PARK!" The kid yelled as he feared for his life again

John then put his knife away, knocked the kid out, tied all the thugs together, left a note

 _Tried to rob this apartment._ It said. He called 911 on a phone of the burglars and left.

John sprinted to the warehouse. He had no other way to get there.

John tapped his ear "Finch!" He yelled as he was running with the wind in his face

"Mr. Reese!" Finch yelled back,"What is going on?"

"Dion is being lured to an abandoned warehouse on the corner of Market and Park! Finch, they plan to kill him!"

"Who does?" Finch asked

"Some thug group. I'm almost there. I'll keep you updated."

John tapped his ear to hang up. He continued to sprint to the warehouse

 **Transition**

Harold just hung up with John. He didn't like John doing this.

"Well. What did I say?" Nathan said behind him, "This number was legitimate. Say 'You were right.' I'm waiting"

"This time you are right. The machine still has bugs. This number may be legitimate, but that doesn't mean all numbers will."

Nathan shrugged, "Well. At least I was right about this one."

 **Transition**

John made his way to the warehouse. He looked in a window. He saw Dion tied to a chair. Finch gave him a picture of the number and the boy looked like the picture.

John checked the time.

5:45. 15 minutes.

John tapped the window and begin thinking of a plan. He needed one. He looked to his left toward a dock and saw a dock worker. He was moving some sort of cargo. John smiled, he had a idea.

In the warehouse, Dion was begging them to spare his life.

"So, you take $500 from me, give me the cheapest of crack, and you expect me to let you go after I spend a lot of time tracking you down. I don't think so." The gang member said to Dion.

Dion just looked down and cried

"But you don't understand…" Dion cried, "I need money. For god's sake, I am about to be evicted from my home. Please….Understand."

The gang member pulled out his gun, "My sympathy was with my $500. Which means, no more." Dion braced himself. There was a knock at the warehouse door.

"Who the hell is that?" The gang member said

"Well, we are missing Timmy." Another guy said.

One of the gang members went to the door. They opened the garage-door like door.

John was standing there in a dock worker uniform and had boxes on a dolly.

"I have those packages you ordered." John said as he forced himself into the warehouse.

"We didn't order anything." The guy said

"You sure?" John looked at his clipboard. "You didn't order two sets of fists?" John dropped the board and punched two of the gang members out cold.

The gang member who had the gun on Dion turned the gun off him and pointed it to John, but unfortunately for him, John was faster and got the gang member's kneecaps.

John quickly ran over and kicked the gang member's gun away from him. He punched him once more and knocked him out cold. John helped his wound so he wouldn't bleed out.

Dion looked at John, "Who are you?"

John looked at him, "You know, I'm still thinking of an answer for that."

"Why would you help me?" Dion asked, still tied to the chair

"I help people out of bad situations." John said as he began to untie Dion.

"Well, thank you." Dion said to John

John didn't say anything. He just nodded. He led Dion out of the warehouse.

Dion just sighed, "Thanks again. For saving me."

John nodded, "Here."

John went into his pocket and pulled out a couple of bills and handed them to Dion.

"What is this?" Dion asked, "There's gotta be 300 dollars here."

"400." John corrected, "Keep your home."

Dion was in shock to respond verbally, he instead nodded his thanks. When Dion looked up again, John was gone.

 **Transition**

John walked into the shed where Nathan and Harold were.

"I see your mission was a success." Nathan told John

John nodded, "Yup." He looked at Harold, "Ready to head home?" John asked him.

Harold nodded, "Goodnight, Nathan."

"Goodnight, Harold, John." Nathan responded

John and Harold walked the sidewalks of New York toward their home.

"I meant to ask you John. Where did you get that money?" Harold asked John

"I got it from someone who didn't deserve it. I don't think the New York mafia will miss their money." John responded

Harold shook his head, "Thank you for helping me out John. Even though you put your life at risk. At first, I was for the idea of you helping me and Nathan out with the machine, but after all you've gone through during your first year of living with us..But I guess I remembered that you need a purpose. A job."

John shrugged, "That is not entirely wrong."

Harold smiled at John. John smiled back. The two kids walked back to their house.

 **Transition**

John and Harold walked into their house where they saw the family eating dinner.

"Hey, sorry we are late. John was helping Me and Nathan with a project."

"How did it go?" Alicia asks, "The project?"

"It was…." John looked a Harold before responding, "successful."

"Well do you boys want to eat?" Greer asked his sons

They both nodded and sat at the table. Once they had finished, Greer and Alicia called the kids to the living room.

"John, we decided to get you a gift in honor of the one year anniversary." Alicia told him.

John, and the kids followed their parents to the garage. They turned it on to reveal a motorcycle. John was in awe.

"There will be rules that come with this…" Greer held up a key before finishing, "But how would you like to take a quick spin on it?"

John happily took the key and hugged his parents in thanks. John recently got his driver's license for his parents car and he got a motorcycle license as well. So it was nice to use his license for the motorcycle.

John sat on the bike, put on his helmet. Put the key in the bike and was about to depart.

"Be careful, and be back in 10 minutes. Then we will go over the rules." Greer told John

John nodded, "Yes sir."

Greer patted him on the back, John put the kickstand up, he revved the bike, and he departed from his house.

 **TBC.**

 _HAPPY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!!!!!! Now isn't this becoming like the person of interest we all know and love. Well, except since John knows Nathan. Enjoy!!!!_


End file.
